A Cub Scout pack in Maryland may lose its charter if it maintains a policy welcoming gay families and members, a Scout official said Friday, raising once more a controversial issue that has roiled the Boy Scouts of America in recent years.

Pack 442 of Cloverly, Md., is conducting a poll of its members on its website about whether to retain its non-discrimination policy, which reads: “Pack 442 WILL NOT discriminate against any individual or family based on race, religion, national origin, ability, or sexual orientation.”

The members have until Friday 8 p.m., to decide if they will keep the policy and possibly not be rechartered, or if they will remove it and return to a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy welcoming all families, according to a statement on the pack’s website.

Les Baron, Scout Executive of the National Capital Area Council, or NCAC, to which the pack belongs, confirmed that the pack could lose its charter if it maintains the policy, which he noted was against the Boy Scouts’ longstanding ban on openly gay Scouts or leaders.

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“Hopefully we don’t get to that point. We are working with the pack to try to work out our differences,” he told NBC News. “The policy of the Boy Scouts are what they are and my job is to not bring into (it) my own personal feelings, and all I am trying to do is maintain the quality and integrity of the Boy Scouts of America and its policies.”

The pack said it must submit the chartering application by Saturday. At that point, Baron said, the council would then have to make a decision on the charter bid and would take the non-discrimination statement into account. He said the time to make a decision varied.

On the pack’s website, a statement said the council “contacted us a few weeks ago pressuring us to remove our statement, we attempted to negotiate a rewording of the statement that would represent a compromise on the matter, but ultimately NCAC leadership felt only removal of the statement would be acceptable.” The pack’s committee chair did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The policy was voted on by member families and “overwhelmingly approved” last August, according to the pack website, which also noted that its chartering organization supported the decision. The matter was discussed in detail with district leaders and the council from August through October 2012.

“As was stated above, it was only recently that NCAC contacted us saying they would no longer ‘allow’ this statement to be posted,” the website said.

The pack committee was split on the way forward, prompting the poll, according to the pack website.

“Some of the leaders feel the principle of non-discrimination is too precious to allow BSA to dictate that we abandon our local policy. Others feel that we should acquiesce to removal of the policy statement and return to a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy,” the website said.

Baron confirmed that he learned of the policy a few months ago. “The only reason that we do this program is try to provide quality opportunities and experiences for young people. It’s not about political issues and I’m sorry that it’s come down to that.”

A national BSA spokesman, Deron Smith, said the private organization "has policies that all councils and local units agree to follow."

"In this instance, this pack will need to evaluate if they agree to the annual chartered organization agreement," he wrote in an email to NBC News, adding that he wasn't aware of any special deadline given to the unit to make the decision. Baron said he was not aware of any deadline.

The Boy Scouts reaffirmed its ban on gays and lesbians in 2012 following a two-year confidential review.

After the Boy Scouts reaffirmed its policy banning gays, dozens of Eagle Scouts said in online postings that they had returned their medals, badges or membership cards in protest. But many other Eagle Scouts said they agreed with the policy. Since then, Smith has said there were no plans to revisit the membership guidelines.

Activist groups stepped up their campaign to end the policy after Ryan Andresen, an 18-year-old California teen, was denied the Eagle rank late last year because he is gay, and following the dismissal of Jennifer Tyrrell last April from her post as den leader of her son’s Tiger Cub pack in Bridgeport, Ohio, because she is a lesbian.

A number of troops have said they don’t follow the policy, and some companies and charities have said they would not contribute to the Boy Scouts because of the ban.

A gay man whose wedding photo was pulled from Facebook after an anonymous complaint believes the social network’s reporting policy allows for a "subversive" type of harassment.

The photo of Pastor Kelsey Swope-Wise, 37, and his husband, Bishop Erik Swope-Wise, 49, of Elgin, Ill., was taken down from the Gay Marriage USA Facebook page on Monday after someone lodged a complaint with Facebook. The administrator of the page, Murray Lipp, said Facebook informed him on Monday that the image of the biracial couple standing together at their April 28, 2012, wedding "violates policies and community standards."

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"It’s subversive, the type of harassment, meaning that you can do it anonymously," Erik Swope-Wise, who founded a local chapter of The Affirming Pentecostal Church International, told NBC News on Tuesday. “So you can throw the rock and hide your hand. There’s no accountability for somebody’s actions. So somebody could make that accusation, ‘Well this picture’s offensive.’ Well we don’t know who said that, so how can we even go back to them and say, ‘Why is this offensive? Tell me why it’s offensive.’”

Facebook restored the photo on Tuesday and apologized to Lipp, who told NBC News that the social networking site had initially blocked his ability to post for one week in addition to taking down the photo. This wasn’t the first time he has had problems with posts being reported.

“Sadly, Facebook's reporting system is so flawed that it allows people against equality to attack & target pages like mine and Facebook almost ALWAYS sides with those who complain. I was given no opportunity to respond or say anything … ,” he wrote in an e-mail.

Erik Swope-Wise said Lipp asked to post the image last weekend. He initially was pleasantly surprised by the outpouring of support in comments and likes, but then the messages turned “hateful” and “condescending.” Some who made comments were upset because the men are Pentacostal, which traditionally rejects same-sex marriage, though their church does not.

Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes told NBC News in an email that the photo did not violate their “policies or community standards and was removed in error. The image has been restored and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused." A team reviews hundreds of thousands of reports every week, and occasionally mistakes are made, he said.

“I accept that … we’re all subject to human error,” Erik Swope-Wise said. “However the process by which Facebook uses to make those determinations is probably a little too mechanical. When a person puts an opposition to a post … it’s a list of choices that you choose to describe why this is offensive or inappropriate but there gives no validation, you know, as to what that really is.”

What might be offensive to one group may not be to another, and the term “offensive” was also “too general,” he added. “I think the scrutiny of it needs to be a little more clear before they take such harsh action.”

Rich Ferraro, a spokesman for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), said he has seen this happen before but that Facebook has always taken quick action.

“More often than not reporting tools on sites like Facebook are used positively to report anti-LGBT bullying or hate speech. Unfortunately, anti-LGBT users have also used these tools to target LGBT community members -- but when GLAAD has brought incidents like this to Facebook, they have always immediately restored the content,” he wrote to NBC News in an email.

Issues can arise when social networking sites wade into heated debates.

"This is involving a lot of judgment calls right, like what is hate speech and what is a political statement. It's extraordinary difficult some times," said Rebecca Jeschke, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, which advocates for the public’s digital rights.

She said best practices would be to have a “really clear procedure for contesting any kind of take down and for that to be followed consistently.”

"Lots of activists use these forums for their activism and so if you censor their activity through Facebook then you're functionally censoring their speech activity on the Internet,” she said. “Facebook isn’t like a state government. It can restrict speech in any way it wants, but sometimes the ramifications are the same."

PORTLAND, Maine - Gay and lesbian couples exchanged their vows early Saturday as Maine's new same-sex marriage law took effect a minute after midnight.

Among them were Steven Bridges and Michael Snell, who held a commitment ceremony six years ago but wanted to make their marriage official under state law.

"It's historic. We've waited our entire lives for this," said Bridges, a retail manager, who's been in a relationship with the Snell, a massage therapist, for nine years. Bridges, 42, and Snell, 53, wore lavender and purple carnations on black T-shirts with the words "Love is love."

With Snell's two adult daughters looking on, they exchanged their vows in the city clerk's office after getting the first marriage license issued to a same-sex couple in Portland. They said they'll hold another ceremony with friends this summer, after the weather warms up.

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Voters approved gay marriage in November, making Maine and two other states the first to do so by popular vote. A law is already in effect in Washington state; Maryland's takes effect Tuesday. 

Nine of the 50 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia have now legalized gay marriage. Another 31 states have passed constitutional amendments banning it.

In Portland, a half dozen couples huddled with friends and family in freezing temperatures outside the building before the doors to the city clerk's office were opened at 10 p.m. local time.

"We've been together for 30 years, and never thought that this country would allow marriages between gay couples," said Roberta Batt, 71, an antiques dealer and retired physician with silver hair and round eyeglasses. She planned to marry her longtime partner, Mary, who stood nearby.

"We're just very thankful to the people of Maine, and I hope the rest of the country goes the way this state has," she added.

Suzanne Blackburn and Joanie Kunian, of Portland, were among those in line to get their license at midnight, but they didn't plan to wed immediately. One of their grandchildren wanted them to get married on Valentine's Day.

"I don't think that we dared to dream too big until we had the governor's signature," Blackburn said. "That's why it's so important, because it feels real."

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In Bangor, the city clerk's office was planning to be open on Saturday from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. for residents to obtain marriage licenses. The Brunswick town clerk's office was set to be open from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday by appointment. As of midday on Friday, five same-sex couples had booked appointments, the office said.

More lavish same-sex weddings are being booked starting in the spring at the On the Marsh Bistro in Kennebunk, said owner Denise Rubin.

"We support it wholeheartedly," she said. "We look forward to being part of a whole new wave of wonderful thinking."

The tide of public opinion has been shifting in favor of allowing same-sex marriage. In May, President Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to say he believed same-sex couples should be allowed to get married.

A Pew Research Center survey from October found 49 percent of Americans favored allowing gay marriage, with 40 percent opposed. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review two challenges to federal and state laws that define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The nation's highest court said this month it will review a case against a federal law that denies married same-sex couples the federal benefits that heterosexual couples receive. It also will look at a challenge to California's ban on gay marriage, known as Proposition 8, which voters narrowly approved in 2008.

Washington state's law legalizing same-sex unions took effect on Sunday, December 9, and Maryland's law takes effect on January 1, 2013.

This article includes reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press.

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The chief diversity officer at Gallaudet University was put on administrative leave Wednesday after the school learned she had signed a petition supporting efforts to reverse Maryland’s same-sex marriage law, media reports say.

Dr. Angela McCaskill signed the petition at her church after her preacher spoke against gay marriage, the Planet DeafQueer blog reported on Monday, citing a Gallaudet faculty member who first spotted the administrator’s name on the document. Voters in Maryland will decide on Nov. 6 whether to keep a state law passed earlier this year approving same-sex marriage.

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“I want to inform the community that I have placed Dr. Angela McCaskill on paid administrative leave effective immediately. It recently came to my attention that Dr. McCaskill has participated in a legislative initiative that some feel is inappropriate for an individual serving as Chief Diversity Officer; however, other individuals feel differently,” Gallaudet University President T. Alan Hurwitz said in a statement.

“I will use the extended time while she is on administrative leave to determine the appropriate next steps taking into consideration the duties of this position at the university. In the meantime an interim Chief Diversity Officer will be announced in the near future."

Gallaudet spokeswoman Catherine Murphy told Buzzfeed that the university did not have "a policy against political participation." When asked about the nature of the petition and if the university had any policy regarding such political participation, Murphy told NBC News in an email: “For the moment we are sticking with this (Hurwitz) statement. Please understand that in an administrative personnel matter we won't be saying anything more until we get complete clarity on what took place.”

McCaskill was the first deaf African American female to earn a Ph.D. from Gallaudet, where she has worked for 23 years in various roles, including becoming the deputy to the president and associate provost of diversity and inclusion in 2011, according to her biography on the university website. She did not respond to an email seeking comment and it was not possible to leave a phone message.

Late Wednesday, the campaign seeking to keep the same-sex marriage law urged the university to reinstate McCaskill.

"We strongly disagree with the decision to put the chief diversity officer on leave and hope she is reinstated immediately," Josh Levin, campaign manager of Marylanders for Marriage Equality, said in a statement. "Everyone is entitled to free speech and to their own opinion about Question 6 (the referendum on the ballot), which is about treating everyone fairly and equally under the law."

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Reaction to the news was mixed on the university’s Facebook page, with some wanting to give McCaskill another chance or to learn more about what happened, and others saying she shouldn’t be in the job.

Teddi Fishman, director of the International Center for Academic Integrity at Clemson University, said she would “stop short of saying that this case necessarily involves a lack of integrity.”

“If a person is responsible for ensuring equal opportunities for students regardless of their gender or sexual orientation and that person goes on record as being opposed to equal opportunities for people based on their gender and sexual orientation, it certainly appears that there is some incongruity,” she wrote NBC News in an email.

However, she noted that people also have the right to participate in the democratic process regardless of their work obligations unless they have agreed otherwise or are legally prohibited from doing so. The issue of marriage equality is not the same as the task of ensuring equality in academic settings and some could argue there were reasons -- not based on discrimination -- for opposing gay marriage, she added.

“I would feel comfortable saying, however, that if I were supervising Dr. McCaskill, I would want to talk with her to make sure that her commitment to equal opportunity to all students does indeed extend to them all and to monitor the situation more carefully than I might have done had she not signed the anti-marriage petition,” she said.

A Baltimore Sun poll in late September found that Maryland voters favored legalizing same-sex marriage, 49 percent to 39 percent. The survey of 804 likely voters was conducted from Sept. 25 to 27 by research firm OpinionWorks. The margin of error was 3.5 percentage points.

Updated at 10:00 p.m. ET, Tuesday -- Matthew Kimball walked away from the Boy Scouts in 2005.

Since he was gay, Kimball knew that his sexual orientation would be at odds with the Boy Scouts of America’s policy banning gay Scouts and leaders. Kimball was both: an Eagle Scout and an assistant Scoutmaster.

 

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Kimball had not revealed his sexual orientation during his Scouting years. But he decided, like a number of other gay Scouts, that he could no longer stay publicly quiet about the organization’s membership policy after learning that Ryan Andresen, a teen from his own Troop 212 in Moraga, Calif., had been denied the Eagle rank last week because he is gay.

 

 

 

 

“My immediate reaction was frustration with myself, because I felt if I had done what this kid did … he wouldn’t have to be going through this, hopefully,” said Kimball, referring to Andresen’s coming out in July to his troop in a letter.

Kimball has called on other Eagle Scouts to give their pins to Andresen after the teen’s story emerged last week. “I never thought I’d ever come out in an explicit way ever,” Kimball, who was leaving Scouting as Andresen was joining the troop, told NBC News late Monday. “But I just felt like I had to.”

Andresen, 18, had completed the requirements to earn the Scouts’ highest honor, but his Scoutmaster would not sign off on the award because he is gay, his mother said. The Scoutmaster has not replied to emails or a phone call seeking comment.

Kimball, a technology entrepreneur in San Francisco, said he has received up to 170 pledges of pins from Eagle Scouts, including about 48 from Troop 212 alumni. Scouts for Equality said last week that some 300 Eagle Scouts had returned their regalia in protest to the Boy Scouts since the organization announced in July that it had re-affirmed its membership policy after a confidential, two-year review.

But many other Eagle Scouts have said they agreed with the policy.

“The BSA's stance on this policy, along with the policy that you must subscribe to a belief in a higher being have both come under attack over the past few years,” Scott Prater, a 45-year-old unit commissioner in the Chattahoochee District for the Boy Scouts’ Northeast Georgia Council, said last week in an email to NBC News. “Anyone who desires to sign up as a member, either as a boy, or as an adult, must read and sign a statement to the fact that they understand and agree to abide by those principles. If you knowingly sign that you agree to those principles and have no intent on abiding by the rules, then you shouldn't expect to get special consideration.”

A spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America, Deron Smith, said 50,000 Scouts earn the Eagle rank every year, and in August noted that a “few” had returned their medals, badges or certificates since the membership policy announcement. On Tuesday, he said he didn’t have an update on numbers of regalia returned, but noted such items were either kept at the national office or stored in the National Scouting Museum. He also said Scouting ranks, such as the Eagle Scout, represent a past achievement and the BSA did not revoke them once they were awarded.

Most of the Scouts pledging their pins were heterosexual, Kimball said, though a number of gay Eagle Scouts made similar offers in emails sent to NBC News since hearing of Andresen’s story. One of those was Eric-Richard de Lora, an adviser to the Gay-Lesbian Union that Andresen and others founded at his high school in Berkeley, Calif., this fall.

De Lora, 53, said he considered returning his Eagle in 1997 after coming out but felt strongly that he had earned it and decided to keep it. He also thought about returning it in 2000, when the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Boy Scouts on the anti-gay membership policy.

“Ultimately I held on to the award believing that it might someday serve a useful purpose,” said de Lora, a teacher at Maybeck High School.

That day appeared to come after Andresen informed de Lora last Monday about what was happening with his Eagle bid. Andresen, de Lora wrote, had completed the requirements for the Eagle, including building a “tolerance wall” for victims of bullying such as himself.

“This week I have finally decided that the best use of my award, short of giving it to Ryan, would be to donate it to the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco,” he wrote in an email to NBC News. “ … it seems the right place for both a tribute to homosexual Scouts and all that they have endured.”

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Another gay Eagle Scout, Robert Goris-Kolb, a 25-year-old pharmacist from Grand Island, N.Y., said his husband had been pushing him to return his badge after the BSA announced it was sticking with the membership policy.

“Unlike Ryan, at the time I earned my Eagle Scout badge I was not out of the closet, and did not have to face the indefensible discrimination he is currently confronted with,” he wrote. Media reports on Andresen have “finally pushed me over the edge and I can no longer stay on the sidelines of this tragedy. Instead of returning my award to the BSA however, I would like to send it to Ryan, so that if he does not win his fight against this organization, he may in one way be granted what he has rightfully earned.”

Karen Andresen, who had started an online petition calling for her son to get his Eagle rank, said the Scoutmaster knew about her son's sexual orientation and that Ryan was led to believe he would nonetheless get the award.

But Boys Scouts spokesman Smith said Andresen was no longer eligible for membership in Scouting because he did not meet the membership standard on sexual orientation and he had informed his unit leadership that he did not agree to Scouting’s principle of "Duty to God." The family disputed that, saying the only reason Andresen was denied the rank was "because the Boy Scouts of America has a problem with Ryan being gay."

Kimball, who knows Andresen’s father, Eric, the troop's chief administrator, attended a troop meeting earlier this week on how to resolve Ryan’s case. He said talks were under way on recognizing the teen’s accomplishment while keeping the troop together amid the difficult time and some hard feelings.

“I want Ryan to be recognized. I want him to get an Eagle award even if it’s mine,” he said. “It’s a physical symbol that encapsulates so many great memories and a really important time in our lives … it’s difficult to let go of, but for me, I knew that it would be a positive thing.”

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

 

Tom Privitere and Brian Edwards posed for their engagement photo, holding hands and kissing, in front of the Brooklyn Bridge in 2010. The image captured one of the happiest days of their lives. But earlier this year, their special moment was soured when the photo was used in two anti-gay mailers in Colorado.

On Wednesday, the couple and their photographer filed a lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Colorado against Public Advocate of the United States, a nonprofit that opposes same-sex marriage. They are seeking a court order saying the group violated the law, damages, costs and attorney fees for the allegedly unauthorized use of the copyrighted photo.

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“We want to take back the beautiful moment in our lives that was reflected in our engagement photo before it was hijacked,” Edwards, a 32-year-old college administrator living in Montclair, N.J., told NBC News on Monday before traveling to Colorado to file the lawsuit. “We also … want to take a stand for others who might be similarly targeted in the future.”

The couple, who met in New York in 2000, got engaged in December 2009. The next year in May, photographer Kristina Hill snapped their engagement photos. The pair married later that year in a civil ceremony in Connecticut.

“All that we did was what any other couple would do to mark their engagement and have these photos taken for family and friends to share our joy and our excitement and help people (see) what path we were taking toward our wedding,” said Privitere, 37. “It was a great, great day for us.”

The couple alleged that Public Advocate seized upon that personal moment to spread what Edwards called a “message of hate” in two mailers it sent this spring during Republican primary races for the Colorado statehouse.

One of the mailers targeted State Sen. Jean White, who supported a bill that would have granted same-sex civil unions. Across the couple’s image were the words: “State Senator Jean White’s Idea of ‘Family Values?’” The other one, aimed at House candidate Jeffrey Hare, read: “Jeffrey Hare’s Vision for Weld County?” Both candidates lost their races.

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A friend alerted the couple to the mailers in late June. It’s not clear how Public Advocate got the photo, which the pair had posted to a blog about their engagement and impending nuptials. They say the group never asked the couple or Hill to use it.

When contacted by NBC News for comment on the lawsuit, Eugene Delgaudio, president of Public Advocate, said in an email that he was looking into it but did not elaborate or provide further remarks.

“The use of Tom and Brian’s likenesses, or of Kristina’s copyrighted photo, was wholly gratuitous,” said their attorney, Christine Sun, of the Southern Poverty Law Center. “Public Advocate could have just paid for a stock photo of a gay couple kissing but instead Public Advocate decided to take this very personal photo of this happy moment and use it to attack gay people.”

“ … the doctrine of fair use is not intended to allow people to use copyrighted work just because it’s cheaper than paying for something,” she added.

The couple has experienced sleepless nights and anxiety since they learned of the mailer. They’re concerned about the impact of the mailers upon others who may have seen it, such as gay youth and their families who may be struggling with accepting them.

“Colorado is a positive step in trying to right a wrong,” said Privitere, who works in entertainment ticketing. “We’re nervous to be thrust into the public spotlight again. We’re nervous that we’re not going to represent our community the best that we can. But we’re going to do all that we can to try to fix or make this right.”

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The lone survivor of a shooting that left her girlfriend dead in a South Texas park says she has learned that “life is so fragile” and she thanks those who are praying for her, noting it has sped up her recovery, in some of the first comments posted to her Facebook page since the attack three months ago.

Kristene Chapa, 18, was shot in the head along with her girlfriend, Mollie Judith Olgin, 19, on June 22 in Portland, Tex. The couple had been spending some time in a nature reserve near Corpus Christi before going to see a movie on the night they were attacked, Olgin’s father, Mario, told local television station kiiitv.com.

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A couple found the pair the next day in the park. Olgin, a first-year university student living in Corpus Christi, died; Chapa, of Sinton, was alive and rushed to an area hospital.

"Today marks 3 months since my accident. I've learned life is so fragile and cherish the people you have in your life love them don't take things for granted and buy pepper spray! they deserve it!" Chapa penned Sunday in a Facebook post.

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"I love that people pray for me," she also noted. "I really think that's why I'm recovering so fast."

Police got 100 leads in the case after Chapa, who is recovering in a rehabilitation facility, helped them produce a sketch of the attacker, NBC local affiliate, kristv.com reported in mid-September. The suspect is described as a thin white man with a scruffy beard, in his 20s, weighing 140 pounds and standing 5-feet-8-inches tall.

On her Facebook page, Chapa complained about the food at rehabilitation but also said of therapy: "one step at a time" and "always remember there is someone worse off."

A state forensics lab in Austin will compare DNA evidence collected from the crime scene with mouth swabs that police have taken from each person they’ve interviewed who doesn’t have an alibi, kristv.com reported.

But the lab is dealing with a lengthy caseload, and it’s not clear when police will have the results, according to the television station.

Police recovered a bullet casing from a large-caliber gun at the scene, leading investigators to believe the shootings occurred where the pair was found. Two witnesses said they heard what could have been gunshots or firecrackers just before midnight on June 22 but did not report it at the time.

On Sunday, Chapa posted the lyrics to a Kenny Chesney song on her Facebook page from "Who You'd Be Today," which is about a person who "died too young."

"I still need time but I am happy," she wrote. "I'm moving on."

That seemed to include a new girlfriend, with Chapa noting in early September that she was in a relationship with a new woman.

"I know people deal with things different and I'm not gonna sit in my room and cry over what happened," she wrote. "I was heartbroken but I'm not gonna be single for the rest of my life ... she's in my heart but I needed something else. I wanted a girl to be there for me and understand what I'm going through ..."

Portland Police Chief Randy Wright has previously said that there was no evidence to indicate the attacks were motivated by the couple’s relationship. Calls placed by NBC News early Monday seeking comment to Wright and Hilario Chapa, Kristene’s brother, were not immediately returned.

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