Zach Wahls

Texas Governor and failed presidential candidate Rick Perry is angry with music legend and LGBT ally Madonna. Why? Because she had the audacity to join the millions of people calling on the Boy Scouts of America to drop their ban on gay scouts and gay leaders.

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.

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."

GLAAD today joined Scouts for Equality and 20 year-old Eagle Scout Will Oliver to call on the National Geographic Channel to denounce the Boy Scouts of America's (BSA) ban on gay scouts and scout leaders.

Yesterday, 18 year-old Ryan Andresen and his family celebrated that he was one step closer to getting his Eagle award after an official Eagle Board of Review unanimously approved Ryan's Eagle application. But Ryan's victory was short-lived, as Fenoglio, a paid employee of the BSA, reversed course and rejected the board's unanimously approved application -- an unprecedented action.

The Merck Foundation became the latest corporate leader to speak out against the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on gay scouts and scout leaders. The Merck Foundation announced that it will suspend all funding to the BSA and will consider funding the organization again when the BSA ends the discriminatory ban.

Scouts for Equality founder, Zach Wahls, has launched a Change.org petition calling on Verizon to stop donating to the Boy Scouts until the BSA ends its policy banning gay scouts and leaders. Companies included Intel and UPS have already dropped their financial support of the BSA because of the discriminatory policy.

The UPS Foundation today joined a growing number of corporate leaders in providing financial support to those organizations that align with the company’s non-discrimination policy. Under this policy, the Boy Scouts of America is no longer eligible for grants from the UPS Foundation because of the BSA's ban on gay scouts and scout leaders.

A conservative Jewish day school in West Orange, New Jersey has announced that it will not renew its Boy Scout charter for 2013 because of the national Scouting organization’s policy banning gay and lesbian scouts and scout leaders, New Jersey Jewish News reports.