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Subscribe to RSSNBC's Pete Williams reports on the major policy shift being considered by the Boy Scouts of America.
The Boy Scouts of America, one of the nation’s largest private youth organizations, is actively considering an end to its decades-long policy of banning gay scouts or scout leaders, according to scouting officials and outsiders familiar with internal discussions.
If adopted by the organization’s board of directors, it would represent a profound change on an issue that has been highly controversial -- one that even went to the US Supreme Court. The new policy, now under discussion, would eliminate the ban from the national organization’s rules, leaving local sponsoring organizations free to decide for themselves whether to admit gay scouts.
“The chartered organizations that oversee and deliver scouting would accept membership and select leaders consistent with their organization’s mission, principles or religious beliefs,” according to Deron Smith, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts’ national organization.
Individual sponsors and parents “would be able to choose a local unit which best meets the needs of their families,” Smith said.
The discussion of a potential change in policy is nearing its final stages, according to outside scouting supporters. If approved, the change could be announced as early as next week, after the BSA's national board holds a regularly scheduled meeting.
Only seven months ago, the Boy Scouts affirmed a policy of banning gay members, after a nearly two-year examination of the issue by a committee of volunteers convened by national leaders of the Boy Scouts of America, known as the BSA.
In a statement last July affirming the ban, its national executive board called it “the best policy for the organization.”
But since then, a scouting official said, local chapters have been urging a reconsideration. "We're a grassroots organization. This is a response to what's happening at the local level," the official said.
Two corporate CEOs on BSA’s national board, Randall Stephenson of AT&T and James Turley of Ernst & Young, have also said they would work to end the ban. Stephenson is next in line to be the BSA’s national chairman. During the 2012 presidential campaign, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney said the BSA should admit gay scouts and scout leaders.
Jennifer Tyrrell, who was ousted as a den mother for her son's Cub Scout troop because of her sexual orientation, is fighting back. Tyrrell talks to msnbc's Thomas Roberts about her petition to change the Boy Scouts of America's long-standing policy on banning gays and lesbians.
About 50 local United Way groups and several corporations and charities have concluded that the ban violates their non-discrimination requirements and have ceased providing financial aid to the Boy Scouts. An official of The Human Rights Campaign, an advocate for gay rights, said HRC planned to downgrade its non-discrimination ratings for corporations that continue to give the BSA financial support.
“It’s an extremely complex issue,” said one Boy Scouts of America official, who explained that other organizations have threatened to withdraw their financial support if the BSA drops the ban.
While the national scouting organization sets broad policies, more than 290 local councils nationwide govern the day-to-day conduct of the more than 116,000 local organizations. Individual scouting troops are sponsored by religious and civic organizations that represent a diversity of views on the issue of allowing gay scouts and leaders.
“The beliefs of the sponsoring organizations are highly diverse,” the official said.
The policy change now under discussion “would allow the religious, civic or educational organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting to determine how to address this issue,” said the BSA's Smith.
“The Boy Scouts would not, under any circumstances, dictate a position to units, members or parents. Under this proposed policy, the BSA would not require any chartered organization to act in ways inconsistent with that organization’s mission, principles or religious beliefs,” he said.
In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that the Boy Scouts had a First Amendment right of free expression when it came to the organization’s belief that homosexual conduct is inconsistent with values stated in the scout oath, requiring scouts to be “morally straight.”
The Scouts have won similar legal battles, with courts finding that the BSA’s right of free association permits it, as a private organization, to reject those it believes do not conform to is values.
Related:
Eagle Scouts return badges to protest policy banning gays
Gay mom upset after dismissal by Boy Scouts
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....why should these boys be subjected to this small minority of Christianphobic haters who get their jollies from same sex erotica.....to put the kids in this position is child abuse, BSA....
This is just great. This is why homosexuality is wrong. People with religious beliefs are being forced to accept homosexuality and are having their religious rights, which are enshrined in the constitution, diminished because the homosexual community is trying desperately to legitimize their behavior. Religious people are criticized for trying to enforce their morals on others but others have no problem forcing their morals on everyone else. I believe that if the BSA caves their won't be anyone in the scouts but the homosexuals and who will loose out? Just as with Catholic Charities, THE CHILDREN. Because it is all about you and your perversions everyone else has to suffer.
oh and by the way. nbc edited my comments. i said deviant behavior that is condemed by EVERY RELIGION ON THE PLANET. and i also said that hopefully the supreme court will rule DOMA and Prop 8 R constitutional and put an end to this madness once and for all.
1) Large swaths of Christianity and Judaism have no problem with homosexuality.
2) The Supreme Court already ruled that the Boy Scouts can set their own membership standards. Rulings on marriage equality won't affect that.
those groups are fair weathered protestants and liberal Jews. Catholics, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddists and every religion that truly believes in the bible, quran, torah and believe in the word of god and don't believe that god is barney the dinosour that loves everyone and does not judge know that homosexuality is wrong and we are being denied our beliefs by a few fringe leftist who are dead set on removing religion from the land. that is the only way that young people and others who accept homosexuality have been able to do that is by selectively believing the bible. you can't do that. the bible, quran and torah are what they are and say what they say.
The article didn't say, are they letting lesbians in the Boy Scouts, too?
LMAO
Yes , dolphins too.
Anything that will feed your bigotry.
Willy,
Are you talking about gay dolphins?
I guess Rainbow Trout are in now.
This is so gay, just let the gays in already... or don't.
Either way it's a privately held organization and nobody here including myself has any power or right to tell them what they can and can not do.
My son wanted to try out Boy Scouting because he has school friends who are in the group, but our family feels that any organization the rejects people for who they are (being gay, not believing in God) rather than for what they do (honorable actions, being kind) is not an organization that is worth joining or supporting. They may have the right to set their own rules, but my family has the obligation to decide whether or not we find their behavior moral.
How many 7-year-old boys know whether or not they are gay? I don't think a child should have to figure out their future sexual orientation in order to learn how to do community service and tie good knots.
As for adults, gay adults are no more dangerous than het adults. I monitor any adults my kids have contact with. Sexual orientation has nothing to do with it. Predators can be anyone, anywhere.
True predators are everywhere, but are parents at every scout meeting and camping trip?
Would it be OK for a Hetero Male to take a group of young girls on a Girl Scout camping trip? Would that pass the eye test?
I just cant say that I am OK with that.
God didn't make little boys gay, Mothers did!
You are mistake in your believes!
I look forward to reading the research that you (Whybother) will be citing in support of this statement.
To: margimpalla123; READ the Kings James Version of the Holy Bible, if it doesn't burn your eyes out!
I said research. Fiction is not research.
Um, I've read the KJV, and there's no support in there for your claim about mothers turning their kids gay.
Maobama Critic, have you ever been to a scout meeting or camping trip or summer camp? It's a wonderful time for boys and the adults have a great time too. Perhaps you envision that there's only one old gay pervert crony and a bunch of submissive boys being abused, but it's not like that! There is more than one adult overseing things, and every adolescent boy is paying lots of attention to all that's going on also. There are many group activities and it's a fun social time. If you think it's some sort of sexfest, get your mind out of the gutter!
Lee... Your children will learn about 'sexuality' on their 1st overnight campout. Won't that be fun for them?
Since a significant number of their scout leaders are homosexual pedophiles I think this action is appropriate. The Catholic church and the Boy Scouts main purpose is to rape young boys. I know of whence I speak because as a child I was raped by both my priest and my scout master.
Yep, folks- that's your world coming to an end. Gays here, there & everywhere.
Reading your comments of hysteria and panic makes me feel happy and fuzzy inside. I know it's not nice of me, but it just does. So keep it up please.
This is a complex subject. Has Fisty Readhead, weighed in yet?
She is out having gender reassignment surgery. Some problems with grafting that thumb to the pelvic region I heard.
cockroach, scurry....I'm turning on the lights
My goodness. It is like the United States is back in the 60s again. What is the deal? Did Americans learn nothing from the Civil Rights movement? If you ban someone or something, people will fight harder and harder for more rights. Eventually, they get them, and a ton of resources are wasted delaying the inevitable.
Hopefully the United States will get with the times sooner rather than later.
BSA instills morals and values into boys. They teach civics and patriotism. They teach right from wrong. They build good citizens. They give them life skills. They give boys confidence and self esteem. They teach family values. Acceptance of gay and lesbian lifestyle as normal is not congruent with this. I STRONGLY disagree with a change of policy. Yes, local groups can be gay free, but risk the added burden of someone making them an example in court. This will be a huge detriment to BSA.
In Boy Scouts, camping is the vehicle used to unite the boys, give them a challenge to overcome (build a fire with wet wood and one match?), to build self esteem. They will tent together, shower in the same room, change clothes, etc.
Now, how many think it owuld be ok for a 13 year old boy to sleep beside a 13 year old girl in a tent? Anyone want to let your daughter do that? What the difference between that sexual tension and my son having a gay kid sleep next to him? Maybe the gay kid is the 16 year iold who is twice his size? It is asking for conflict.
A gay kid in the middle of older straight guys WILL get bullied, teased, ostracized, and perhaps worse. Boys are savages.
Boy Scouts are still children. I don't want my kid's Scout leader telling him it's OK to be gay. It is not. It's a sin and recognized as such in just about every major faith in the world. My Scout leader is there to teach values. When his values are askew, how can I let him teach my son?
Being gay is a choice. Every choice has consequences. If you want to be gay, fine. Go be gay. But I should never be expected to sit back and accept it as normal. That's what the gay rights movement thinks should happen.
Put it into a different perspective... What if I had 5 wives? or maybe I had a plural marriage that had 4 wives and 2 other husbands? Think that is normal? Acceptable? Want me to teach your kids family values? Maybe I'm a nudist and want to walk around hanging out everywhere?
BSA needs to be reminded of right and wrong and hold to their beliefs.
Being gay is NOT A CHOICE. NOT. A. CHOICE. The choice is only, "Should I ignore my feelings and pretend to be straight? Or should I go ahead and be myself?". Are you suggesting gay people should make the choice to ignore their feelings and pretend to have a sexual orientation they don't feel comfortable with? How would you feel is society expected that of you?
Also, I have a teenager and believe me, kids these days don't CARE if someone is gay. Their parents may still be freaked out about it but the younger generation really doesn't care anymore.
It does matter to my two daughters that are 13 and 17. They both know it's wrong.
No matter what the government, schools or gays tell them!
IT's WRONG, physically, mentally and religiously!~
XD, you are factually wrong on every single point.
So, XD, when did you choose to be heterosexual? If sexuality is a choice, then you must have chosen your path at some point. How old were you when you chose?
XD, you need professional counseling.
XD,
I couldn't care less how many wifes you have. It does not affect me in any way.
If you think that boys are savages, what the hell are you teaching your kids?
good point. If gays can be in the BSA then nudist should be in there too!! What is the problem???
Gives a whole new meaning to a Boy Scout "Outing"
A "weenie roast" could take on new meaning.
Why don'tthe gay boys join the girl scouts. Since they are prissy and feminine anyway.
They should if they want to. I don't see the purpose of gender-segregated children's groups.
if you think all girl scouts are prissy and femine, you've never been around any girl scouts.
And if you think boys aren't 'savages' you haven't been around many boys!!!
Wow, now a gay person can join the scouts, then the marines and then get married.
Michelle Bachmann's head might just explode.
Don't be a bigot.
And it took so long,,,just pitch a tent, and place a sign on the outside "all pedophiles welcome',,have a little bonfire and some marshmellows along w/ your 13 yr old son getting molested. Nice!
Me thinks the "hangem" doth protest too much.
umm I think you are confused, that would be PENN state..
Strange. These same people who are trying to claim letting their sons join the scouts with potential gay leadership would lead to molestation are probably some of the very same parents that would have no problem letting their sons become altar boys, where there are actual known pedophiles.
"Homophobic."
Indiscriminate use of that term is part of the problem, from my point of view. It's no longer enough to just be tolerant and courteous of gay people. If on some particular occasion you want to associate only with straight people, even without making a big show of that preference, there's some loud voice wanting to hang the label "homophobic" on you. That's B.S. We can all live together and treat each other respectfully, I agree. But that doesn't mean everybody's obligated to join in some kind of public group hug to prove they're not "homophobic."
"Racist."
Indiscriminate use of that term is part of the problem, from my point of view. It's no longer enough to just be tolerant and courteous of black people. If on some particular occasion you want to associate only with white people, even without making a big show of that preference, there's some loud voice wanting to hang the label "racist" on you. That's B.S. We can all live together and treat each other respectfully, I agree. But that doesn't mean everybody's obligated to join in some kind of public group hug to prove they're not "racist."
Why don't the gays just form their own club ?
"The Gay Scouts of America."
Damn-Now all the scouts will have to learn to throw underhanded.
Better late than never.
When the Girl Scouts begin letting in gay boys, they'll have to accept the straight boys, as well. They're going to need a ton of Chaperones.
The United States of America is the only country where the boys and girls are separated. A totally PURITAN ideal!
Some of these disgusting and hateful insults to homosexuals and kids make me sad to think your actually human adults. I feel sorry for some of you.
I agree.
And we you!!!
It's not discrimination, it's STANDARDS. They don't let 'tards be leaders either.
Joe Scatone, you disgust me.
I read these comments with amazement! Ladies and Gentleman, we are in the 21st century. The homophobic comments here are disgusting and ignorant. Since when does learning how to tie knots and helping old people cross the street, have anything to do with ones belief in God, and or their sexuality? To all those idiots that think being gay leads to becoming a pedophile, get a life, you have no idea what your talking about?
Just to be clear here, I am not gay, however, I would have no issue with my child being with others who are. It doesn't mean that everyone is going to be tying knots on each other and having sex..... What the hell is the matter with people? When are they going to realize, its NOT your environment that makes you gay, you are essentially born that way. It is disheartening in this day and age to hear people spout hatred and ignorance!
Don't worry about the homophobic comments. They're just mad that they're losing.
Thank you, rich1965
ever heard of PENN state?
I'd like to hear back from you when your children end up with AIDs from their latest BSA campout!!
It's about time that the BSA did the right thing. Now it's just the stupid and/or bigoted that will need to create their own organization.
Really? It is not bigoted that the NAACP created their own organization and that was fine, right? I am not a republican, but I still love to hear the liberal logic or lack thereof.
To Joe Scatone, you have no standards, if thats what you think!!
I hope the BSA does not cave to the PC left on this. It is perfectly OK not to accept everyone and everything. Stand strong and stand by your principles!
An organization that would discriminate against a boy and his parents due to sexual orientation has no principles.
It has principle you don't like. That doesn't mean it doesn't have any.
Just because their principles do not agree with your own that is fine for you to be a heterophobe and intolerant, right?