In a historic move, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Executive Committee voted on Monday to lift its ban on openly gay scout leaders. At the same time, though, the organization also voted to allow church-sponsored scout troops to exclude gay scout leaders for religious reasons.
Please read info concerning the amendment of BSA adult leadership standards http://t.co/aIpbPLsujP— Boy Scouts - BSA (@boyscouts) July 27, 2015
In a statement, the organization said:
Chartered organizations will continue to select their adult leaders and religious chartered organizations may continue to use religious beliefs as criteria for selecting adult leaders, including matters of sexuality. This change allows Scouting’s members and parents to select local units, chartered to organizations with similar beliefs, that best meet the needs of their families. This change also respects the right of religious chartered organizations to choose adult volunteer leaders whose beliefs are consistent with their own.
"No youth may be denied membership to our organization on the basis of sexual orientation alone," Dr. Robert M. Gates, former Secretary of Defense and the organization national president said in a video statement. "And no council can deny a charter to a unit that is following the beliefs of its religious chartering organization."
Scouts For Equality, an organization that has been fighting to have the ban on gay scout leaders lifted since 2012, issued its own statement praising the decision.
Zach Wahls, the executive director of Scouts for Equality, said, “While we still have some reservations about individual units discriminating against gay adults, we couldn’t be more excited about the future of Scouting. We look forward to collaborating with our supporters, progressive faith partners, allied non-profit organizations, and the Boy Scouts of America to ensure a fully inclusive Scouting movement."
#BREAKINGNEWS: .@boyscouts votes to end national ban on gay leaders https://t.co/32iTWszEUe pic.twitter.com/BhEuXKvNVf— Scouts For Equality (@Scouts4Equality) July 27, 2015
The stage had been set for Monday's action on May 21, when Gates told the Scouts' national meeting that the long-standing ban on participation by openly gay adults was no longer sustainable. He said the ban was likely to be the target of lawsuits that the Scouts likely would lose.
Two weeks ago, the new policy was approved unanimously by the BSA's 17-member National Executive Committee. It would allow local Scout units to select adult leaders without regard to sexual orientation — a stance that several Scout councils have already adopted in defiance of the official national policy.
The move comes a little over two years after the BSA lifted its ban on gay scouts.
Of course gays can be Scout leaders. Gay does not mean pedophile. "Every sign of unjust discrimination..should be avoided" (Catechism #2358)— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) July 28, 2015
Additional reporting by the Associated Press