Family wellness is always a big issue, but it seems to especially be the case in America. Due to growing pressure from troops across the country The Boy Scouts of America announced that it is ‘discussing’ ending its 100-year-old ban on gay leaders and members, and potentially leaving the decision to individual troop discretion.
According to BSA spokesman Deron Smith, ‘Currently, the BSA is discussing potentially removing the national membership restriction regarding sexual orientation. This would mean there would no longer be any national policy regarding sexual orientation, and the chartered organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting would accept membership and select leaders consistent with each organization’s mission, principles, or religious beliefs.’
If this happens, parents and individual members would be able to make their own decisions as to what is best for the wellbeing of the individual groups, and set their own guidelines to that affect. Smith said that the matter will be reviewed next week at the BSA’s regularly scheduled board meeting.
Rich Ferraro, a spokesman for the gay advocacy group GLAAD, says that two factors are involved in today’s announcement: ‘I think it was a mix of the change.org petitions and the corporate sponsors that had dropped out’. At the end of last year, the Merck Foundation severed its ties to the Boys Scouts, and the organisation’s financial wellness took a big hit when the Intel Foundation announced it would end $700,000 in annual donations in September. According to Ferraro, ‘UPS adopted a new policy that stated that grantees had to follow their non-discrimination policy. There were also more in the coming weeks that were dropping their support of Scouts.’
21 year-old Eagle Scout Zach Wahls has spent the past seven months heading up Scouts for Equality, which advocates for ending the ban. ‘I am extraordinarily excited. It’s a positive step, and big change,’ he said. ‘This is absolutely a step in the right direction, but we have a long way to go. Discrimination has no place in scouting.’ Wahls was in charge of delivering a petition in June from change.org with more than 1 million signatures, demanding that the Boy Scouts end the ban on openly gay membership. However, he still says, ‘Once an Eagle Scout, always an Eagle Scout. I am unwilling to quit because of a single policy. They do so many things right.’
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