After more than a week of reports that the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) might consider lifting their national ban on gay Scouts and leaders, the organization’s Board of Directors decided in a closed door meeting today to form a task force to study the issue, and will in the interim keep their discriminatory policy on the books -- preventing openly gay Scouts and Scout leaders from serving openly in the organization.
After anti-gay activists began claiming that opening the Boy Scouts to openly gay scouts and leaders would put kids in danger, more than 120 experts from the fields of sexual abuse prevention, psychology, psychiatry, child advocacy, faith outreach, education and coaching have co-signed an open letter saying this is not the case.
National Boy Scouts of America (BSA) leadership have communicated to local and regional that some of the biggest religious organizations with the most Boy Scout charters have come out in support of policy change.
Sens. Sherrod Brown and Jeff Merkley, both of whom are Eagle Scouts, sent a letter to the Boy Scouts of America urging the organization to "to adopt inclusive membership and leadership policies that will allow for all Americans to participate in the Boy Scouts."
After initially being rebuffed by security, ousted Boy Scout mom Jennifer Tyrrell, gay Eagle Scout Will Oliver, gay former Scoutmaster Greg Bourke, and Eric Andresen, father of a gay Scout denied his Eagle Award, were able to deliver the more than 1.4 million signatures gathered on behalf of ending the Boy Scouts' ban on gay scouts and leaders.
The anti-gay Family Research Council is finding a way to push their radical anti-gay agenda on "Scout Sunday". But the United Church of Christ has plans for the celebration as well!
Media coverage of the Boy Scouts policy change has fallen into a familiar trap, leading to the conclusion that there is no religious support for changing the ban on gay scouts. But religious groups have been advocating for a Boy Scout policy change, some for years.
More than 1,500 New Yorkers gathered today in Manhattan to mourn the death of a 32 year-old gay man, who was shot down on Friday just blocks away from the historic Stonewall Inn in an apparent act of anti-gay bias.
