Boy Suts proposg to lift gay ban for youth, keep ban for adult lears - CBS News

Contents:

• BOY SUTS OF AMERI ENDS BAN ON GAY ADULT LEARS
• BOY SUTS VOTE TO LIFT BAN ON GAY YOUTH
• BOY SUTS LOST 2 LN MEMBERS SCE LIFTG BAN ON GAY YOUTH; NOW MIRED SEX ABE CLAIMS
• BOY SUTS VOTE TO END BAN ON GAY SUTS; GAY ADULTS STILL BARRED
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI LIFTS BAN ON GAY ADULT LEARS
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI VOT TO ALLOW GAY SUT LEARS
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI LIFTS BAN ON GAY LEARS
• A GAY DAD ON THE LANDMARK BOY SUTS CISN: "IT'S A HOLLOW VICTORY"
• BOY SUTS TO REPEAL BAN ON GAY LEARS, WH LIMATNS
• BOY SUTS PRINT: LIFT BAN ON GAY ADULTS
• BOY SUTS PROPOSG TO LIFT GAY BAN FOR YOUTH, KEEP BAN FOR ADULT LEARS
• BOY SUTS LIFT BLANKET BAN ON GAY ADULT LEARS, EMPLOYE
• BOY SUTS MOVE TO LIFT BAN ON GAY YOUTH MEMBERS
• BOY SUTS CHANGE POLICY ON GAY LEARS
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI VOT TO END NTROVERSIAL BAN ON OPENLY-GAY SUT LEARS
• BOY SUTS LIFT BLANKET BAN ON GAY LEARS, WILL ALLOW EXCEPTNS
• BOY SUTS LIFT BAN ON GAY ADULTS
• BOY SUTS’ PRINT CALLS FOR END TO BAN ON GAY LEARS

BOY SUTS OF AMERI ENDS BAN ON GAY ADULT LEARS

NEW YORK -- The Boy Suts of Ameri on Monday end s blanket ban on gay adult lears while allowg church-sponsored Sut uns to mata the excln for relig new policy, aimed at easg a ntroversy that has embroiled the Boy Suts for years, tak effect immediately. Several nomatns that llectively sponsor close to half of all Sut uns -- cludg the Roman Catholic church, the Mormon church and the Southern Baptist Conventn -- have been apprehensive about endg the ban on gay BSA's top lears have pledged to fend the right of any church-sponsored uns to ntue excludg gays as adult volunteers.

-If otherwise qualified, a gay adult would be eligible to serve as a Sutmaster or un, who beme the BSA's print May 2014, said at the time that he personally would have favored endg the ban on gay adults, but he opposed any further bate after the Suts' policymakg body upheld the ban. Sce then, the exclnary policy has prompted numero major rporatns to spend charable donatns to the Suts, and has straed relatns wh some municipali that ver gays their non-discrimatn Upton, a lawyer for the LGBT-rights group Lambda Legal, qutned whether the BSA's new policy to let church-sponsored uns ntue to exclu gay adults would be staable.

BOY SUTS VOTE TO LIFT BAN ON GAY YOUTH

Michael Prengler / RtersGRAPEVINE, Texas -- The Boy Suts of Ameri voted Thursday to end s ntroversial policy banng gay kids and teens om jog one of the natn's most popular youth anizatns, dchg membership guil that had roiled the group recent 61 percent of Sutg's Natnal Council of 1, 232 legat om across the untry voted to lift the ban, BSA officials said. 1, 2014, "allowg the Boy Suts of Ameri the transn time need to munite and implement this policy to s approximately 116, 000 Sutg uns, " the BSA said a the oute of the historic ballot is not gog to end the bate: Some opponents on the right said they would pull their sponsorships of packs and troops, and parents threatened to take their boys out of Sutg; LGBT activists said the policy change don't go far enough bee gay adults still wouldn't be allowed to mom Jennifer Tyrrell, who was oted April 2012 as n lear of her son's Tiger Cub pack bee she is a lbian, said was a step forward even though she wouldn't benef om the change. “Even though I thk that there will probably still be a few folks who choose to walk away … I thk this is the begng of the rebound of Sutg Ameri, ” he ban on gay Suts has been the subject of much soul-searchg the century-old anizatn – om lol troops and uncils to natnal board meetgs.

BOY SUTS LOST 2 LN MEMBERS SCE LIFTG BAN ON GAY YOUTH; NOW MIRED SEX ABE CLAIMS

The dispute was even heard by the Supreme Court, which said 13 years ago that as a private membership anizatn, the BSA was ee to ci who would summer, the Boy Suts reaffirmed their anti-gay policy after a two-year examatn by a mtee. The reasons ced by the AP for the recent drop membership is petn om sports leagu, a perceptn that the BSA is old fashned and the BSA, however, has been steadily losg members, particularly om nservative Christian fai, sce 2013, when adopted an amendment that effectively lifts the ban on homosexual youth the an terview wh The Christian Post that year, Elizabeth Prchard, the pack mtee chair for Pack 928 Southlake, Texas, warned that the vote would acture the anizatn and sre away members who disagreed wh the lg. May 23, 2013 — -- The Boy Suts of Ameri today voted to lift s longtime natnal ban on admtg openly gay Suts but will ntue to exclu openly gay adults om learship vote by s 1, 400 natnal membership me as no surprise to gay rights advot, who hailed as a first step to endg discrimatory practic the 103-year-old Boy Suts said that had pleted s "most prehensive listeng exercise Sutg's history" on the issue and will change s policy Jan.

Still, she applds what she nsirs a "temporary" Oh Cub Sut Lear Fired for Beg Gay"I am enuraged, bee we fely are for the long hl, " Tyrrell, a 33-year-old mother of four told "Once the ban is lifted on youth, they will see their fears are unfound. "She said she would ntue to fight for other gay fai who wanted to be part of the others, such as former former Eagle Sut Jam Dale, who brought the lawsu agast the Boy Suts that ma all the way to the Supreme Court 2000, said the partial liftg of the ban mak the anizatn "ls relevant.

BOY SUTS VOTE TO END BAN ON GAY SUTS; GAY ADULTS STILL BARRED

The Natnal Jewish Commtee on Sutg, the Epispal Church, the Uned Church of Christ, the Unarian Universalist Associatn and the Metropolan Communy Church all urged full repeal of the many other Christian groups stood firm prott, cg relig eedom and the prev Supreme Court 19, 000 past or current members of the Suts signed a petn om Alliance Defendg Freedom, which was livered to the Boy Suts this week, urgg to keep the Stemberger founr of, a group of former Suts, lears and parents who oppose liftg the ban, said the anizatn worried ls about sexual inty than gay activism. Stemberger said his group's attempts to distribute buttons and 1, 000 pi of a newspaper ad the Dallas Morng News to legat were thwarted by the Boy Suts secury guards who asked them to leave the hotel group had hoped to unter Boy Suts of Ameri Print Wayne Perry's op-ed piece USA Today urgg the legat to allow gay youth to be part of Sutg.

BOY SUTS OF AMERI LIFTS BAN ON GAY ADULT LEARS

At least a half dozen other stat are nsirg legislative Supreme Court is currently nsirg repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and a challenge to the California ban on same-sex marriage, known as Proposn 's evince the gay ban has hurt the anizatn. The Boy Suts of Ameri has announced that s natnal executive board has voted to lift the anizatn's ban on openly gay and bisexual adult lears and employe, effective a 45-12 vote, the 71-member board adopted a rolutn (12 pag, PDF) that s executive mtee, a unanimo vote earlier this month, remend for ratifitn. The new policy do not require dividual uns to allow gay adult lears; stead, chartered BSA uns, cludg those sponsored by church, will be allowed to select adult lears based on their own creria, cludg sexual orientatn.

" The cisn was approved by 79 percent of the the natnal ban is gone, effective immediately, lol sutg uns reta the abily to reject gay applints for learship posns if hirg them would vlate the un's relig Boy Suts natnal anizatn said would fend any lol sutg group's "good fah refal" to adm a sutg lear based upon the group's relig prcipl. "The vote reprents a remarkably fast turnaround for the Boy Suts, which only two years ago voted to adm gay young people as suts but kept the ban on adult gay sut then, sutg officials have said, rapidly movg legal velopments forced a told the anizatn May that mt brace for change. "The vote allowg lol uns to turn away gay lears was nmned by some former Sut lears as a timid measure that would allow discrimatn to McGrah, a gay adult lear om wh the Transatlantic Council of Boy Suts of Ameri, lled the vote "an expedient move to preempt legal actn agast BSA natnal, rather than a genue attempt to make BSA clive.

BOY SUTS OF AMERI VOT TO ALLOW GAY SUT LEARS

"John Stemberger, a Florida lawyer who started a breakaway anizatn lled Trail Life USA after the 2013 vote to adm gay Suts, said by endg the natnal ban on gay sut lears, the Boy Suts "plac the church and relig stutns who sponsor BSA troops at greater legal risk. "Today’s vote by the Boy Suts of Ameri to allow gay, lbian and bisexual adults to work and volunteer is a wele step toward erasg a sta on this important anizatn, " said Human Rights Campaign Print Chad Griff a statement after the vote.

This lson provis an opportuny for stunts to learn more about the evolutn of the Boy Suts’ posn on gay members and lears, analyze Robert Gat’ recent speech on the issue and explore stunts’ own pots of view by wrg persuasive says. As now stands, the Suts have dified the rather ridiculo notn that gay youth are wele (provid your lol troop is enlightened) but, e your 18th birthday, you sudnly change to somethg nsistent wh the valu of 's be hont: the Boy Suts' valu are no better today than they were last week. The Boy Suts of Ameri is expected to end s ban on openly gay lears a limed manner Monday, a historic cisn for one of the natn’s largt youth anizatns, whose s-long stggle over whether to clu gays s ranks has both mirrored and fueled the broar natnal bate over LGBT rights.

Over the past two s, the anizatn has been creasgly embroiled by battl over whether to ntue excludg gays, a stance that has threatened the Suts wh the specter of stly ligatn and ed some rporate sponsors, cludg Merck, UPS, Uned Way and Intel to whdraw support. Gat, a dited Sut – he told Esquire that the Suts’ Natnal Junr Lear Trag Program, which he attend as a teenager, “was the only formal management urse I’ve ever had my life” – approved of the anizatn’s 2013 vote to allow gay youth to the anizatn when he took over as print last year.

BOY SUTS OF AMERI LIFTS BAN ON GAY LEARS

Many Sut uns are sponsored by relatively nservative relig nomatns that have supported the ban on gays the past — notably the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of J Christ of Latter-day Sats and Southern Baptist church.

A GAY DAD ON THE LANDMARK BOY SUTS CISN: "IT'S A HOLLOW VICTORY"

DALLAS (Rters) - The Boy Suts of Ameri lifted s outright ban on openly gay adult lears and employe on Monday, rollg back a policy that has eply divid the membership of the 105-year-old Texas-based Suts stand on stage wh a U. REUTERS/Lus Jackson The new policy, which tak effect immediately, three years after the anizatn removed s prohibn on gay youth, but lol Boy Sut uns chartered by relig anizatns will still be permted to exclu gay adults om volunteerg as n lears, sutmasters or mp latt move was wily seen as beg aimed at quellg a backlash agast the Boy Suts amid clg membership and the threat of ligatn, while addrsg ncerns of relig stutns that acunt for about 70 percent of the 100, 000-pl Boy Sut uns rt are chartered to civic groups and tnal Church of J Christ of Latter-day Sats, the largt of all Boy Sut sponsors, said a statement was “eply troubled” by the move and said the Mormons’ “century-long associatn wh Sutg will need to be examed.

Defense Secretary Robert Gat, lled for change May, sayg ntuatn of the blanket ban on gay Sut lears was “unstaable” repeated that assertn on Monday, sayg efforts to keep the old policy tact would lead to “simultaneo legal battl multiple jurisdictns and at staggerg st. 5 ln members between the ag of 7 and 21 and about 960, 000 volunteers lol uns, acrdg to the anizatn’s anticipated end of the Boy Suts ban has been weled by gay rights advot and cricized by Wahls, an Eagle Sut and executive director of Suts for Equaly, has labeled the ban a “towerg example of explic, stutnal homophobia. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTApril 19, 2013Seekg an elive middle ground on an issue that has divid s ranks and drawn heated natnal bate, the Boy Suts of Ameri on Friday proposed endg s longstandg ban on openly gay suts but ntug to bar gay adults om servg as lears.

BOY SUTS TO REPEAL BAN ON GAY LEARS, WH LIMATNS

”The proposal drew swift cricism om both sis as nservative Christians said the Boy Suts had ved to polil prsure, and gay rights groups said they were perpetuatg discrimatn and dangero stereotyp about gay issue of gay members and lears has particularly tormented the Boy Suts over the last year as the anizatn first said would not change policy, then said would, then put off a cisn until the May uncil dismissal of a lbian Cub Sut n lear, particular, had received wi publicy, and gay rights groups stepped up a mpaign for change. Several lol ernments and chari said they uld not donate to the Suts or sponsor troops bee of s discrimatn agast gay the other si, nservative policians and relig groups urged the Boy Suts to ntue wh the longstandg policy of ejectg boys and dismissg lears who were openly Boy Suts were forced to nont the qutn of sexual orientatn at a time when the public has bee more acceptg of homosexualy, but the issue remas eply polarizg.

BOY SUTS PRINT: LIFT BAN ON GAY ADULTS

Already sufferg a long-term cle membership, the anizatn had to move refully, s lears said private, bee most of s lol troops were sponsored by church, some of which ll homosexual behavr a Mormon Church and the Roman Catholic Church, together, sponsor groups enrollg about one-fourth of all suts. Both church have the past said they might abandon the Boy Suts if altered s policy on gay members and Mormon Church, which the Boy Suts as a ma program for youth trag, was nonmal on Friday, sayg only that would study the proposed rolutn before the May Smh, a spokman for the Suts, cled to scribe their discsns wh church lears. Smh cled to expla the reasong behd the different treatment of lears and youths, the study summary says that many adults had exprsed particular ncern about child safety and whether gay men were appropriate role mols.

The Suts, like other stutns servg children, have been jarred recent years by sexual-abe sndals om the four experts nsulted by the Suts, the summary said, said that homosexualy is not a risk factor for sexual abe and that there was no evince that havg a gay lear would alter a child’s sexual Friday, a nservative Christian aln of past and current Boy Suts, parents and lears lled, which was formed to lobby the Boy Suts on the issue, nmned the proposed chang wh a statement tled “Boy Suts rolutn v to outsi prsure. "The Human Rights Campaign appld the cisn but lled on BSA to extend to “full LGBTQ cln for both employe and volunteers, ” notg that the policy change allowg gay employe and volunteers did not extend to transgenr adults.

“Today’s vote by the Boy Suts of Ameri to allow gay, lbian and bisexual adults to work and volunteer is a wele step toward erasg a sta on this important anizatn, ” said Human Rrights Campaign Print Chad Griff a statement.

BOY SUTS PROPOSG TO LIFT GAY BAN FOR YOUTH, KEEP BAN FOR ADULT LEARS

The Boy Suts of Ameri, facg ligatn, shrkg membership and sweepg acceptance of gay rights, voted Monday to lift s ban on openly gay troop lears and natnal anizatn will no longer allow discrimatn agast s paid workers or at BSA-owned facili. Some 70 percent of Boy Sut troops are n by fah-based groups, many om orthodox muni cludg Mormons, Catholics, Southern Baptists and Mlims who do not accept gay the march toward full equaly for gay and lbian Amerins has unfold wh unual speed, wh 25 stat acceptg gay marriage 2013 and 2014 before the U.

BOY SUTS LIFT BLANKET BAN ON GAY ADULT LEARS, EMPLOYE

Meanwhile, the Boy Suts experienced a 7 percent drop membership sce liftg s ban on openly gay Suts’ smaller executive mtee, whose members serve on the larger executive board, voted unanimoly earlier this month to perm openly gay adults to serve as new l approved Monday allow troops chartered by a relig anizatn — cludg church, mosqu and synagogu — to “ntue to choose adult lears whose beliefs are nsistent wh their own.

”Wahls, who is an Eagle Sut and executive director of the advocy group Suts for Equaly, said Monday’s vote will mean a “sigh of relief” for gay summer mp unselors or other adult volunteers who want to work wh, however, lled the fact that so many fah-based troops may ntue to ban openly-gay lears “disncertg … Sutg is a place to hone important life skills and a moral pass. We want to ntue to exist the future and orr to do that, people like me need to be at the table, ” he Boy Suts of Ameri is expected to lift s ban on openly gay youth lears amid what lls a "sea of change" on gay rights issu sweepg across the natn. It was weled by gay rights advot and greeted wh ncern by some relig a statement, the Church of J Christ of Latter-day Sats – one of the Boy Suts’ biggt sponsors – said was “eply troubled” by the cisn, and s “century-long associatn wh Sutg will need to be examed.

“Today’s vote by the Boy Suts of Ameri to allow gay, lbian and bisexual adults to work and volunteer is a wele step toward erasg a sta on this important anizatn, ” Human Rights Campaign Print Chad Griff said a statement. “I am probably gog to do , ” Peffly said, even though he had felt “cut eply” when the natnal anizatn ejected Wahls, the executive director of Suts for Equaly, a sutg advocy group, said his two gay mothers were “very exced” by the cisn. The policy change ially means that gay sut lears “wouldn’t have to worry about beg found out and beg reported, ” said Wahls, who said there have been “dozens” of gay people removed om sutg posts bee they had been “found out.

BOY SUTS MOVE TO LIFT BAN ON GAY YOUTH MEMBERS

“It was clear the Boy Suts had bee an anizatn n om the top down and mak s cisns based on the polil whims of the day, ” he said he wants to see how large relig anizatns rpond to the move and wants more rmatn on whether the Boy Suts will provi a legal fense to lol groups that ban gay lears. ”The youth anizatn has been unr great prsure to fd a middle ground between two forc: church and relig groups, many of them nservative, which charter 70% of Sut troops; and an creasgly powerful gay rights movement that recently won a roundg legal victory at the U.

”“I tly fear that any other alternative will be the end of as a natnal movement, ” said Gat, former CIA director and secretary of Gat add that was important to allow relig anizatns to ntue to make their own cisns on whether to clu gay adults. The BSA did re-affirm that the lg, which follows the footsteps of the ntroversial 2013 reform of the Sut's membership policy allowg openly gay youth to jo, would not apply to relig-based troops, and that they were ee to ntue hirg based on their profsed relig beliefs. The outcry toward the unilateral cisn was immediate, wh the Mormon Church announcg is "eply troubled by today's vote, " and claimg "the admissn of openly gay lears is nsistent wh the doctr of the Church and what have tradnally been the valu of the Boy Suts of Ameri.

BOY SUTS CHANGE POLICY ON GAY LEARS

REUTERS/Lus JacksonBy Marice Richter DALLAS (Rters) - The Boy Suts of Ameri lifted s outright ban on openly gay adult lears and employe on Monday, rollg back a policy that has eply divid the membership of the 105-year-old Texas-based anizatn. The new policy, which tak effect immediately, three years after the anizatn removed s prohibn on gay youth, but lol Boy Sut uns chartered by relig anizatns will still be permted to exclu gay adults om volunteerg as n lears, sutmasters or mp unselors. Gat, the print of the Boy Suts of Ameri and former secretary of fense, lled on Thursday to end the Suts’ ban on gay adult lears, warng the group’s executiv that “we mt al wh the world as is, not as we might wish to be.

BOY SUTS OF AMERI VOT TO END NTROVERSIAL BAN ON OPENLY-GAY SUT LEARS

In that role, he helped end the ary’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy — which was siar to the current Boy Suts policy toward Sut lears — and discrimatn agast gay men and relled that 2010, a feral judge clared the ary policy to be illegal.

He said he had origally tend to put off nsiratn of the divisive issue of gay adults, allowg the Boy Suts a rpe after a ntent meetg 2013 at which the anizatn cid to perm openly gay youths to belong to said that he had not yet ma a formal proposal to the natnal board, but that mt act soon to head off possible his posn is voluntary, Mr. Conservative relig groups that sponsor many Sut troops, cludg the Church of J Christ of Latter-day Sats, the Roman Catholic Church and some evangelil church, opposed the participatn of openly gay members, while lol lears more liberal regns have lled for an end to 2013, Boy Sut lears om across the untry voted, wh more than 60 percent approval, to say that no youth may be nied membership “on the basis of sexual orientatn or preference alone.

” But left tact the even more disputed policy that no openly gay adults uld serve the then, a Sut group New York has fied the l by employg an openly gay 18-year-old as a mp unselor, and several other uncils around the untry have exprsed opposn to the Gat said Thursday, prepared remarks released by the Boy Suts, that the natnal learship would take no actn agast fiant lol the same time, he said that the name of relig eedom, the Suts should allow lol sponsorg anizatns “to terme the standards for their Sut lears. The executive board uld mandate such a change at any time the g year, he said, or uld ci, as did 2013, to put the matter up for a vote at next year’s annual nventn of sut lears om around the Kate Ellis, print of Glaad, a gay rights anizatn, also praised Mr.

BOY SUTS LIFT BLANKET BAN ON GAY LEARS, WILL ALLOW EXCEPTNS

BOY SUTS LIFT BAN ON GAY ADULTS

BOY SUTS’ PRINT CALLS FOR END TO BAN ON GAY LEARS