State of Oregon via AP file

This undated image made available by the State of Oregon on March 18, 2010 shows Timur Dykes. In April 2010, a jury decided the Boy Scouts were negligent for allowing Dykes, a former assistant scoutmaster, to associate with Scouts after he admitted to a Scouts official in 1983 that he had molested 17 boys, according to court records.

As the Boy Scouts of America prepares for the court-ordered release of records detailing accusations of sex abuse by members and leaders, the organization acknowledged in an open letter this week that its response in some of the cases had been “plainly insufficient, inappropriate, or wrong.”

The letter comes after the Oregon Supreme Court ordered the Boy Scouts to release “ineligible volunteer” files from 1965 to 1985 that chronicle suspected or confirmed instances of child sex abuse. Media organizations had sued for the release of the files, part of a 2010 case in which a jury decided that the Scouts were negligent for allowing a former assistant scoutmaster to associate with the organization's youth after he admitted molesting 17 boys in 1983, court records show, according to The Associated Press.

Some 829 of the files from that time period (Jan. 1, 1965 to June 30, 1984) involve suspicions or confirmations of inappropriate sexual behavior with 1,622 youth, according to a report by Dr. Janet Warren, a professor of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia, for the Boy Scouts. The report, released Tuesday, was completed in 2011.

“Dr. Warren’s report shows that, as part of our broader Youth Protection program, the BSA’s system of ineligible volunteer files functions to help protect Scouts,” Wayne Perry, national president, Tico Perez, national commissioner, and Wayne Brock, chief Scout executive, said Tuesday in an open letter to the Scouting community. “However, we also know that in some instances we failed to defend Scouts from those who would do them harm. There have been instances where people misused their positions in Scouting to abuse children, and in certain cases, our response to these incidents and our efforts to protect youth were plainly insufficient, inappropriate, or wrong.

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“For any episode of abuse, and in any instance where those involved in Scouting failed to protect, or worse, inflicted harm on children, we extend our deepest apologies and sympathies to victims and their families,” according to the letter. “While we believe the files are an inconclusive record, the BSA will undertake a similar review and analysis of the IV (ineligible volunteer) files created from 1965 to present and ensure that all good-faith suspicion of abuse has been reported to law enforcement.”

The developments were first reported by the Los Angeles Times, which noted that Warren’s team was paid $75,000 to complete the study.

Warren’s findings included:

--  The total number of alleged youth victims identified in the files was 1,622. Of these, 1,302 were involved in Scouting, for 112 it was unclear, and for 208, they were not involved in Scouting.
--  486 of the men identified in the files as suspects were arrested at some time for a sex crime. It may have occurred before they got involved with Scouting, as a result of the incident noted in their file or after they left the organization.
--  In 531 of the cases, there was information indicating alleged inappropriate sexual behavior with multiple youths. 
--  In 252 of the cases, the available information indicated alleged inappropriate sexual behavior with only a single victim. 
--  128 of the men in the files had their registration revoked within a year of signing up.
-- Police were involved in the investigation of 523 cases.
-- Six men placed on probation offended against a Scout during their probationary period, while two men were accused of inappropriate sexual behavior with a youth after their probationary period had ended.  
-- After being denied registration by the BSA, 175 men were identified as having sought to re-register with the organization, in some cases under a different name at another location many years after their initial entry into the files. They were denied entry into the Boy Scouts.

“My review of these files indicates that the reported rate of sexual abuse in Scouting has been very low,” Warren wrote in a summary of her report, in which she also said the “files broadly refute the notion that these were ‘secret files’ of hidden abuse.”

“I believe that these files show that children in Scouting were safer and less likely to experience inappropriate sexual behavior in Scouting than in their own families, schools and during other community activities supervised by adults,” she wrote.

But an attorney who has filed several suits for former Scouts said Warren’s review didn’t take into account abuse cases that weren’t in the files.

"Personally I have represented more than a hundred men abused by Scout leaders whose names were never entered in the ... files -- even after BSA paid out substantial settlements on account of these abusers," Timothy Kosnoff, a Seattle attorney, told the Los Angeles Times. "The files are only the tip of the iceberg. Most perpetrators never get caught."

The Boy Scouts said they expect the files from the Oregon case to be released soon. They said that, beginning in 2010, the organization mandated that all suspicions of abuse be reported to law enforcement authorities and that they have always required members to follow local laws on reporting of abuse.

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Courtesy of Bill DeVos

Bill DeVos, an Eagle Scout and a Scoutmaster in upstate New York, shows his Eagle awards and a letter that he mailed to the Boy Scouts on Tuesday in protest over the organization's policy banning gay Scouts and leaders.

Bill DeVos, a Scoutmaster in upstate New York, packed up his Eagle Scout medal, badge and knot, and mailed the awards to the Boy Scouts’ headquarters in Texas.

Though it was hard to part with the symbols of his Scouting achievements that harkened to his childhood, the 56-year-old father of two Eagle Scouts said he didn’t want them as long as the organization kept its ban on gay Scouts and leaders.

“It is not an easy thing to give up your Eagle. It sounds silly, but it’s very emotional, you know, if you’ve been in Scouts as long as most of us guys have … it just means a lot,” DeVos, an architect from Rochester, told NBC News. “But it’s more important for it (the badge) to do something good for others … I can look at it and be sentimental about it, but it’s what it does for others that means more.”

In doing so, DeVos, joined dozens of other Eagle Scouts who said in online postings that they have sent back their medals, badges or membership cards following the Boy Scouts’ announcement on July 17 that it would keep the ban on gays in place after a confidential, two-year review. DeVos was hoping to remain part of the Scouts organization and push for change from within, but others who returned medals said they were done with the organization.

A spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America, Deron Smith, said 50,000 Scouts earn the Eagle rank every year, and that a “few” had returned their medals, badges or certificates since July 17. When asked for a precise number, Smith said it would be hard to say since there was no standard way to return the items.

“While a majority of our membership agrees with our policy, we fully understand no single policy will accommodate the many diverse views among our membership or society,” Smith said in an email. “Naturally, we’re disappointed when someone decides to return a medal, but we respect their right to express an opinion in whatever manner they feel is appropriate.”

To earn the Eagle rank, which is marking its 100^th year, Scouts must progress through five lower ranks, earn 21 merit badges and serve six months in a leadership position, among completing other tasks. More than two million young men have earned the rank.

Activist groups in recent months have stepped up their campaign to end the membership policy banning gays after Jennifer Tyrrell, den leader of her son’s Tiger Cub pack in Bridgeport, Ohio, was removed from her post in April because she is a lesbian.

Tyrrell started an online petition calling for an end to the ban. In May, Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scout who is the son of a lesbian couple, delivered some of the signatures to the Boy Scouts. Tyrrell did the same in early July.

Wahls, who has founded Scouts for Equality to campaign against the ban on gays, said that his group was working to keep track of the letters with pictures of returned medals and badges showing up online, such as this one on tumblr and another on tech website Boing Boing. The group, which doesn’t endorse returning the awards, had counted up to 60 names from a range of states. 

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Burke Stansbury, a 36-year-old communications specialist and former Eagle Scout in Seattle, Wash., started the tumblr page cataloguing the returned medals and badges. He has been in touch with some of those who have posted to the page.

“They’re passionate about this and taking that step, even as it’s something that’s difficult for them to do,” he said. “It’s a big part of their life … it was a big part of my life. It’s a big deal to make the decision to do that.” 

Though he knows some people have been fighting to change the Scouts’ policy from within the organization, he said that this wasn’t how he wanted to spend his time.

"It would be more painful to continue to be associated with the Boy Scouts than it is to send back a medal," he said. “The Scouts have taken their stand. They’re pretty clear that they are going to stick with this policy and I think we need to cut our ties and not associate with an organization that believes in discrimination and practices it." 

Smith, the BSA spokesman, said there were no plans to revisit the membership policy. He said while it was rare for medals or badges to be returned, it was not unprecedented. The items will be kept at the national office or the National Scouting Museum.

“Throughout the years, people involved in Scouting and others who are not related to the program have expressed their disagreement with this single policy, or other policies, in a variety of ways. It is important to remember they represent their personal opinion and not Scouting’s members as a whole,” he said.

Tom Sample, a 20-year-old computer engineering student from Cuyahoga Heights, Ohio, who earned his Eagle rank in 2010, said he is not anti-gay but understands why the Boy Scouts have the policy they do, noting that the “Boy Scouts and religion go hand in hand.” 

“It does make me upset that people are returning their badges because … you work hard for those badges, it takes a long time,” he said. “It’s sad to see all these people, especially how much time they’ve spent, have to leave the organization because they don’t feel the same about it anymore.” 

DeVos, who sent his medals back this past Tuesday, grew emotional as he listed off the Boy Scouts’ values, such as trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly and courteous.

“I consider Scouting to be a big part of me, and when you have to come to grips with the fact that the organization that you believe in so much is being so antithetical to the core beliefs, it’s really, really upsetting,” he said, noting that changing the policy “can’t happen fast enough.”

Though his Eagle awards are gone, DeVos said he had no intention of dropping out of Scouting. He said he got an outpouring of support from almost everyone in his troop, including some Scouts who said they’d do the same, though one adult did express concern about encouraging gay membership.

“I want very much to … continue as the Scoutmaster and try to influence as many people as I can, but to me, sending the badge back was something that I could do,” he said. “It was an emotional moment and an opportunity for me to use this badge for something better.”

If you are a current or former member of the Boy Scouts and would like to share your thoughts on the membership policy, you can email the reporter at miranda.leitsinger@msnbc.com

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The Boy Scouts of America will keep their controversial policy banning gay scouts and leaders after a confidential two-year review, the organization said Tuesday.

The announcement comes amid a stepped-up campaign from activist groups urging an end to the membership standards.

“The vast majority of the parents of youth we serve value their right to address issues of same-sex orientation within their family, with spiritual advisers, and at the appropriate time and in the right setting,” said Bob Mazzuca, Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts. “While a majority of our membership agrees with our policy, we fully understand that no single policy will accommodate the many diverse views among our membership or society.”

The Boy Scouts convened a committee of 11 senior volunteers and professional leaders to decide whether the policy was still in the organization’s best interests after a resolution was put forward to reconsider it, the private group said in a statement that was first reported by The Associated Press. The nearly two-year-long review began in 2010.

The committee reached a "unanimous consensus" that it was the "best policy" for the BSA, Scouts' spokesman Deron Smith said in an email. That conclusion was shared at a February board meeting and recently reviewed by the officers of the board, he said.

“The committee included a diversity of perspectives and opinions. The review included forthright and candid conversation and extensive research and evaluations -- both from within Scouting and from outside the organization. The committee’s work and conclusion is that this policy reflects the beliefs and perspectives of the BSA’s members, thereby allowing Scouting to remain focused on its mission and the work it is doing to serve more youth,” the statement said.   

The review was conducted confidentially "to allow the committee to make the best decision for the organization," Smith said.

In June, the Boy Scouts said the organization was considering another resolution proposed at the group's annual meeting the month before that also called for ending the policy. But the decision announced Tuesday means the Scouts’ board will take no further action on that resolution, Smith said.

"Resolutions can always be submitted as defined by our bylaws, but the officers of the board have no plans to further review this issue," he said. 

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The Boy Scouts’ policy became a focus of the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000, when the justices sided with the organization in a lawsuit involving a former assistant Scoutmaster who was gay, citing the protections of the First Amendment.

Courtesy of Jennifer Tyrrell

Tyrrell, a 32-year-old stay at home mother of four, said she agreed to become the den master on the day she signed up her son, Cruz Burns, for the local troop, last year. She had concerns about the Boy Scouts' policy against homosexuals, but a Cubmaster said that – locally -- they wouldn't have problem.

Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scout who is the son of a lesbian couple, has recently campaigned for changing the policy, along with Jennifer Tyrrell, who was ousted from her post as a Tiger Cubs’ den leader in April because she is a lesbian. She started an online petition to seek changes to the Boy Scouts policy.

Smith said the Boy Scouts would accept Tyrrell's petition on Wednesday, but did not plan to discuss the policy. Another big batch of petition signatures was delivered by Wahls to the Boy Scouts' annual meeting in May.

Wahls denounced what he said was "the secretive nature surrounding how this conclusion was reached" and called the announcement "old news."

"We've heard this line before, and we'll hear it again before this is all said and done. I've said this before and I'll say it again: this will be the official BSA policy up until the day it finally ends," he said in an email to msnbc.com. "Regardless of your thoughts on homosexuality, surely we can agree that gay people who serve our troops and communities deserve our respect and gratitude."

BSA board member James Turley, global chairman and CEO of consulting and tax firm Ernst & Young, said in mid-June that he was working within the organization to encourage dialogue on the policy, which is not one he would “personally endorse.” When contacted Tuesday, his firm's media representatives said he would have no comment beyond his earlier remarks.

“Scouting believes that good people can personally disagree on this topic and still work together to achieve the life-changing benefits to youth through Scouting," the BSA National Executive Board said in the statement. "While not all Board members may personally agree with this policy, and may choose a different direction for their own organizations, BSA leadership agrees this is the best policy for the organization and supports it for the BSA.”

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A West Virginia man who was hitchhiking across the United States and writing a memoir titled “The Kindness of America” was shot by a motorist in a random attack in northeastern Montana, authorities say.

Valley County Sheriff Glen Meier said Raymond Dolin, 39, was sitting on his backpack on the side of U.S. Highway 2 west of Glasgow about 6 p.m. Saturday when a man drove up in a pickup, rolled down his window, shot him in the arm and drove off.

“He was preparing to eat his meal when the truck pulled in and he thought ‘hey, here’s a ride’ and jumped up to walk over to the driver,” Meier told msnbc.com on Monday. “When he got closer he saw the gun and as he was starting to walk back, the guy pulled the trigger.”

Dolin was struck in the upper arm. Meier said Dolin was able to flag down another motorist and was taken to the hospital in Glasgow with non-life-threatening injuries. Hospital officials refused comment for an update on Dolin’s condition.

Meier said authorities arrested a suspect in Culbertson, about 100 miles east of Glasgow, about four hours after the shooting. Glasgow is community of about 3,100 residents.

Charles Lloyd Danielson III, 52, of Washington state, was jailed in Roosevelt County on suspicion of felony assault with a weapon and driving under the influence, Meier said.

Danielson had been in the area looking for work, Meier said.

“This is unusual for our community or any community," Meier told msnbc.com, adding "for two people from opposite ends of the nation to end up here and this to happen – it’s totally random.”

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The Boy Scouts of America opens its annual meeting on Wednesday, and among the headlines coming out of it will be one the organization has grappled with over the years: gay membership.

The issue has come to the forefront again with the ouster of den leader Jennifer Tyrrell, who was removed from her position with her son’s Tiger Cubs pack in April because she is gay. An online petition to reinstate her has received more than 285,000 signatures, and Eagle Scout Zach Wahls, the son of a lesbian couple, handed it over Wednesday morning to officials gathering for the two-day meeting in Kissimmee, Fla.

Wahls told msnbc.com that he delivered the three boxes bearing the petition to senior members of the Scouts leadership and a spokesman, wearing his Eagle Scout uniform. He said it was an "unprecedented" and "honest" conversation -- "one scout to another" -- that lasted about 20 minutes.

"It’s really, I think, a very positive step in the right direction,” said Wahls, 20, of Iowa City, Iowa, who became known nationally after speaking before his home state's legislature in 2011 about having gay parents. "We’re not trying to force the Boy Scouts of America to change its policy, we want the Boy Scouts to change of its own volition.”

Tyrrell served as den leader in her Bridgeport, Ohio, community for less than a year. The then 32-year-old stay-at-home mother of four said she agreed to take up the role on the day she signed up her son, Cruz Burns, for the troop. She had concerns about the Boy Scouts' policy against homosexuals, but a Cubmaster said that they wouldn’t have problem locally.

“The best time in our lives we’ve had in the last year, it’s gone … because we can’t be scouts any more. I can’t stop crying,” she told msnbc.com in late April, noting that she would continue to push for a change to the policy to include all Americans. “… because we’re just people …gay people who love their kids.”

The Boy Scouts’ policy became a focus of the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000, when the justices sided with the organization in a lawsuit involving a former Assistant Scoutmaster who was gay, citing the protections of the First Amendment.

Boy Scouts spokesman Deron Smith said in an email that accepting the petition was not on the agenda, but scouting officials would take it in a private meeting “out of respect for different viewpoints.”

“Scouting maintains that its youth development program is not the appropriate environment to introduce or discuss, in any way, same-sex attraction. Parents and caregivers should have the right to decide when and how to discuss this issue with their children,” he wrote in an email statement to msnbc.com.

Smith said there were no plans to change the organization’s stance.

Fernando Leon/Getty Images

Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scout who is the son of a lesbian couple, speaks during the annual GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Media Awards in New York City on March 24.

“Throughout the years some have expressed their disagreement with this policy. The BSA is a voluntary, private organization that sets policies that allow it to most effectively accomplish its mission. Its policies are not meant as a social commentary outside of the Scouting program,” he said.

'A new era for scouting'
But Wahls said it was time for the Boy Scouts to move forward, citing the changes in the U.S. military which ended its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that had barred gay people from serving if they acknowledged their sexual orientation. He said they are in communication with people within the organization already advocating for change.

"It is really my sense that, you know, as we do see this changing of the guard especially under the (Scouts) new leadership … I do believe this is the beginning of a new era for scouting," he said. "Now, how long it takes for this new era to really kick in is unfortunately kind of up in the air at this point, but I do believe we will see this change a little bit sooner than a lot of people expect."

Like Jennifer Tyrrell, Wahls' mothers had served in leadership roles in the local Scouts in the Wisconsin town of Marshfield, but unlike her, they never had to deal with the Boy Scouts' executives who removed the Ohio mother from her post.

Noting that supportive comments for the petition came from current and former scouts and leaders, Wahls said: “I’m a part of this not because I’m opposed to the Scouts, but in fact because I support the Scouts.”

"It was a very important part of my life … the Boy Scouts really reinforced the values that my moms taught me," he added. "The Scouts are right on literally thousands of things, and they’re only wrong on one. So I really do hope that they can change this policy so they can go back to having that perfect scorecard."

Seth Tooley has no problem talking up his alma mater -- The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Bowling Green, Ky.

“It’s not your average high school,” said Tooley, 22, a 2008 graduate of the academy, a public high school for juniors and seniors based at Western Kentucky University.

Tooley now studies science at Western Kentucky but also helps the Gatton Academy by answering telephone calls to the front office. “The students here are learning on a higher level, a ground-breaking level, and that makes all the difference," he told msnbc.com. "When they say students are working on the latest research with leading experts in the field, it's true.”

Editors at Newsweek & The Daily Beast agree, naming The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science as the best public high school in America.

The annual rankings by Newsweek & The Daily Beast highlight the 1,000 public high schools nationwide that have proven to be the most effective in turning out college-ready graduates.

The Top 15 are:
1. The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky, Bowling Green, Ky. 
2. The School for the Talented and Gifted Magnet, Dallas
3. Basis Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Ariz.
4. School of Science and Engineering Magnet, Dallas
5. Basis Tucson, Tucson, Ariz.
6. Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School, Birmingham, Ala.
7. Signature School, Evansville, Ind.
8. Stanton College Preparatory School, Jacksonville, Fla.
9. Suncoast Community, Riviera Beach, Fla.
10. Thomas Jefferson for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Va.
11. City Honors School at Fosdick-Masten Park, Buffalo, N.Y.
12. School for Advanced Studies, Miami 
13. Andrew Carnegie Vanguard, Houston
14. Uplift Education North Hills Preparatory School, Irving, Texas
15. Pine View School, Osprey, Fla.

For the complete list of 1,000 schools, and more educational insights, click here to go to thedailybeast.com/besthighschools.

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A Boy Scouts of America board member and third-generation Eagle Scout has resigned in support of an Ohio scouts leader ousted because of her sexual orientation. 

Courtesy of Jennifer Tyrrell

Jennifer Tyrrell and her son Cruz.

West Virginia lawyer David J. Sims resigned on Friday from the Ohio River Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America in Wheeling, W. Va., in support of Jennifer Tyrrell, a 32-year-old Ohio mom whose membership was revoked in April 10 because she is a lesbian.

“I had not been aware of what was going on and when I did, I felt that it was not a decision that was fair and not one that I necessarily agreed with,” Sims told msnbc.com on Monday. “I think the policy is wrong.”

Confirming the resignation, the Boy Scouts of America on Monday maintained it has the right to ban gays and atheists from its service organization, a stance upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000. A scouts official also defended the organization's actions against Tyrrell.

Story: Gay mom upset after dismissal from Boy Scouts

“Scouting, and the majority of parents it serves, does not believe it is the right forum for children to become aware of the issue of sexual orientation, or engage in discussions about being gay,” Boy Scouts spokesman Deron Smith said in an email to msnbc.com. “Rather, such complex matters should be discussed with parents, caregivers, or spiritual advisers, at the appropriate time and in the right setting.”

“We fully understand and appreciate that not everyone will agree with any one position or policy. To disagree does not mean to disrespect and we respect everyone's right to have and express a different opinion. Scouting will continue to teach our members to treat everyone with courtesy and respect,” Smith said in the email.

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Sims said he could not in good faith carry on his duties with the scouts, a post he has held for four months, and had to take a stand.

A copy of his resignation letter was also emailed to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation on Monday.

“It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I write to you today to inform you that I am resigning as a member of the Board of Directors of the Ohio River Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America,” Sims wrote in his letter, according to the gay-rights advocacy group.

Sims continued: “My grandfather was an Eagle scout, my father was an Eagle scout and I am an Eagle Scout. Other than his family and his Christian faith, the most important thing in my father’s life was the Boy Scouts. He lived and breathed scouting. That is what makes this decision so exceedingly difficult and emotional. However, I know that my father would support my decision.”

Tyrrell said the support has been overwhelming, adding that her petition for the scouts to change policy has gained more than 250,000 signatures.

“I’ve been touched by the long list of supporters who, like me, believe that discrimination should not be a part of the Boy Scouts of America’s policies,” she said.

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Jennifer Tyrrell and her 7-year-old son have had many rewarding experiences with the Boy Scouts of America, but their participation in the national organization came to an end because she is gay, and the group does not allow open or avowed homosexuals in their membership.

Tyrrell learned the news on April 10. The loss has been devastating.

“We were like a family, so in essence … we lost our scouting family, but they also lost two members of their scouting family,” the former Tiger Cubs den leader from Bridgeport, Ohio, told msnbc.com, at points breaking down into tears.

“The best time in our lives we’ve had in the last year, it’s gone … because we can’t be scouts any more. I can’t stop crying,” she later added.

Tyrrell, a 32-year-old stay at home mother of four, said she agreed to become the den master on the day she signed up her son, Cruz Burns, for the local troop, last year. She had concerns about the Boy Scouts' policy against homosexuals, but a Cubmaster said that – locally -- they wouldn’t have problem.

“He said they would stand, you know, hand in hand with us and stand behind us all the way. Well, actually, that's been true,” she said. “I've never had a problem.”

Boy Scouts spokesman Deron Smith said Tyrrell was removed from the program for being in violation of the national policy regarding homosexuals.

“This policy was understood by her and her fellow volunteers, but not followed, upon her registering in the program,” he wrote in an email to msnbc.com.

Tyrrell said she would still be at home, crying on the couch, if her friends hadn’t encouraged her to hold a protest in town against her dismissal and start a campaign online to seek changes to the Boy Scouts policy.

Courtesy of Jennifer Tyrrell

Jennifer Tyrrell and her son Cruz Burns.

That petition has garnered more than 170,000 signatures

The Boy Scouts’ policy became a focus of the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000, when the justices sided with the organization in a lawsuit involving a former Assistant Scoutmaster who was gay, citing the protections of the First Amendment.

“Scouting, and the majority of parents it serves, does not believe it is the right forum for children to become aware of the issue of sexual orientation, or engage in discussions about being gay. Rather, such complex matters should be discussed with parents, caregivers, or spiritual advisers, at the appropriate time and in the right setting,” Smith said. “We fully understand and appreciate that not everyone will agree with any one position or policy.”

But Tyrrell said sexual orientation wasn’t a topic until her dismissal. The children just knew that Cruz had two moms, but there was no further discussion about sexuality.

She also questioned the timing of the revoking of her membership, claiming that as the recently-appointed treasurer, she was trying to iron out some financial discrepancies – and was going to formally make her queries at a meeting the day she was removed.

“She did raise question about the local unit’s finances, however her removal from the program was solely for being in violation of national policy,” Smith wrote. 

Tyrrell said she will continue to push for changes at the Boy Scouts and called on them to take “the high road” and change their policy to include “all Americans.”

“… because we’re just people,” she said. “We’re just gay people who love their kids.”

TORONTO -- Despite economic hardship, wars and natural disasters, the world is a happier place today than it was four years ago and Indonesians and Mexicans seem to be the most contented people on the planet, according to one survey.

Regionally, Latin America had the highest number of happy people, followed by North America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and Africa. Only 15 percent of Europeans said they were very happy.

More than three-quarters of people worldwide who were questioned in an international poll said they were happy with their lives and nearly a quarter described themselves as very happy.

"It is not just about the economy and their well-being. It is about a whole series of other factors that make them who they are today," John Wright, senior vice president of Ipsos Global, told msnbc.com on Friday. Ipsos Global has surveyed the happiness of people in 24 countries since 2007.

But Wright added that expectations of why people are happy should be carefully weighed.

"What we discovered is sometimes the greatest happiness is a relationship, a hot cooked meal and roof over our heads for shelter," he said.

Brazil and Turkey rounded out the top five happiest nations, while Hungary, South Korea, Russia, Spain and Italy had the fewest number of happy people.

Perhaps proving that money can't buy happiness, residents of some of the world biggest economic powers, including the United States, Canada and Britain, fell in the middle of the happiness scale, he said.

"There is a pattern that suggests that there are many other factors beyond the economy that make people happy, so it does provide one element but it is not the whole story," Wright said. "Relationships remain the No. 1 reason around the world where people say they have invested happiness and maybe in those cultures family has a much greater degree of impact."

On a more personal note, married couples tended to be happier than singles but men seemed to be as content as women, Wright said. Education and age also had an impact with more people under 35 saying they are very happy than 25-49 year olds. Higher education also equated with higher happiness.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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