The change, which was ratified 45-12 by the executive board, takes effect immediately and end years of criticism that the Boy Scouts discriminated against gay people. Its members held a meeting by teleconference.
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The Boy Scout of America on Monday voted to lift the longtime ban on gay troop leaders after years of fraught debate that has divided the 105-year-old organization.
BSA executives will now try to mend fences with former members and corporate sponsors who fled after the group stuck by its previous policy of excluding gay adults.
In a release the Boy Scouts posted online in regards to the new policy standards, it was stated the organization, “respects the rights of religious chartered organizations to choose adult volunteers whose beliefs are consistent with their own”.
Gay youths have been allowed in the Boy Scouts since 2013.
Following a landmark decision by the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) yesterday to allow gay adult leaders, the Mormon church has said it is reconsidering its association with the organisation. Though the Mormon Church recently suggested it would go along with the change as long as it could pick its own leaders, on Monday the church said it’s “deeply troubled” by the new policy and will have to reconsider its relationship with BSA. John Stemberger is a Florida lawyer and Boy Scout leader who spearheaded a breakaway group of Christian scouts and started a new scouting organization, Trail Life USA.
According to the BSA, the Church of the Latter Day Saints was in 2010 responsible for 412,720 boy scouts, including cub scouts and venturers, across 37,928 troops.
‘This vote marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Boy Scouts of America, ‘ Wahls stated.
“In 2013, facing growing public and internal pressure, the Scouts decided that openly gay youths could participate, but not adults”, The New York Times reports.
Religious groups, however, expressed stern opposition on the decision and have been apprehensive about the lifting of the ban on gay adults. The Boy Scouts leadership said in a memo earlier this month that it “rejects any interference with or condemnation of the diverse beliefs of chartering organizations on matters of marriage, family, and sexuality”.
On July 10th, the Executive Council voted unanimously to end the ban on gay adult leaders.
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“This would be cause for outcry”, he said after Robert Gates, the BSA’s president, endorsed the idea of gay troop leaders. The Boy Scout program serves this community to build an incredible, lifelong and solid foundation for young people today!
