“When the leadership of the church resumes its regular schedule of meetings in August, the century-long association with scouting will need to be examined”.
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The decision of the Boy Scouts of America to allow gay adults to serve as a Scoutmaster or unit leader has “deeply troubled” the Mormon church, which is now looking into the possibility of forming its own organization. He said the ban was likely to be the target of lawsuits the Scouts likely would lose.
“I don’t think we’ll expect a church to go against their religious beliefs”, Hopper said.
“I’m sure some churches will struggle with the change and that may mean that they will rethink their embracing of scouting altogether”, said Duane Anders, the lead pastor of the Cathedral of the Rockies Methodist Church.
Two years ago, the Boy Scouts also voted to admitting young gay individuals as scouts. Gates, an Eagle Scout, told leaders, “Thestatus quo in our movement’s membership standards can not be sustained”.
“This change allows Scouting’s members and parents to select local units, chartered to organizations with similar beliefs, that best meet the needs of their families”, the BSA statement said.
The Human Rights Campaign, another LGBT civil rights organization, echoed the sentiments.
Boy Scouts President Robert Gates, a former U.S. defense secretary, told the group in May, “We must deal with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be”.
Speck challenges those who object to a gay person being a scout leader to get to know them first.
“It’s a great day for America and for Scouting”, David Boies, a prominent lawyer, said of today’s expected announcement. About 70 percent of all Boy Scout troops are run by religious organizations, according to the BSA.
Gates, who became the BSA’s president in May 2014, said at the time that he personally would have favored ending the ban on gay adults, but he opposed any further debate after the Scouts’ policymaking body upheld the ban.
In 2000, the Scouts’ exclusionary policy prevailed before the Supreme Court. The decision will allow gay and bi-sexual adults, both male and female, to volunteer in troops across the country.
But the victory proved Pyrrhic.
“It’s nearly a way for the top brass in the Boy Scouts to step away and sort of let it all happen at the local level, versus being embroiled in it”, he said.
“Discrimination should have no place in the Boy Scouts, period”. Membership is up over 10 percent in the past three years, Myers said. In 2012, the group announced that it would retain the ban on gay members.
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This decision has prompted several gay-rights organizations to call out the organization for masking their discriminatory policy.
