Boy Suts of Ameri ends ban on gay adult lears - CBS News

Contents:

• BOY SUTS OF AMERI VOT TO ALLOW GAY SUT LEARS
• BOY SUTS CHANGE POLICY ON GAY LEARS
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI TO ALLOW GAY ADULT LEARS; CHURCH-N UNS N KEEP THE EXCLN
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI ENDS BAN ON GAY ADULT LEARS
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI LIFTS BAN ON GAY ADULT LEARS
• BOY SUTS TO ALLOW GAY YOUTHS TO JO
• GAY BOY SUTS? WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR BOYS?
• THE BOY SUTS AND THEIR POLICY AGAST GAY LEARS
• BOY SUTS TO REPEAL BAN ON GAY LEARS, WH LIMATNS
• BOY SUTS LIFT BLANKET BAN ON GAY LEARS, WILL ALLOW EXCEPTNS
• BOY SUTS PANEL ADOPTS ROLUTN TO ALLOW GAY SUT LEARS
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI ENDS BAN ON GAY SUT LEARS
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI ENDS BAN ON GAY AND LBIAN TROOP LEARS

BOY SUTS OF AMERI VOT TO ALLOW GAY SUT LEARS

The erng body of the Boy Suts of Ameri voted Monday to end s s-long ban on gay sut anizatn's natnal executive board, meetg Texas, nclud that the policy of excludg gay adults "was no longer legally fensible. " 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.

BOY SUTS CHANGE POLICY ON GAY LEARS

"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. "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.

“On Monday July 27 the natnal executive board ratified a rolutn removg the natnal rtrictn on openly gay lears and employe, ” Boy Suts of Ameri Print Robert Gat said a vio statement on Monday. “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. “However, 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 OF AMERI TO ALLOW GAY ADULT LEARS; CHURCH-N UNS N KEEP THE EXCLN

However, former Boy Sut learship team member Jon Langbert told CNN’s Carol Costello he believ the new policy isn’t a cure-all, sce lol troops will still be allowed to make the cisn on whether to allow gay lears.

“It creat a b of a ms when you don’t have one global policy for the Suts, ” Langbert add, notg that the natnal anizatn allows gay adults as employe.

NEW YORK – The Boy Suts of Ameri has end s blanket ban on gay adult lears but will allow 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. "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, " said a statement om Mormon headquarters Salt Lake ntrast, the Human Rights Campaign, a natnal LGBT-rights anizatn, said the Boy Suts should not allow church-sponsored uns to ntue excludg gays. "Gat forhadowed Monday's actn on May 21, when he told the Suts' natnal meetg that the long-standg ban on participatn by openly gay adults was no longer staable.

BOY SUTS OF AMERI ENDS BAN ON GAY ADULT LEARS

It would allow lol Sut uns to select adult lears whout regard to sexual orientatn — a stance that several Sut uncils have already adopted fiance of the official natnal 2013, after heated ternal bate, the BSA cid to allow openly gay youth as suts, but not gay adults as lears. 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 pledged to fend the right of any church-sponsored uns to ntue excludg gays as adult volunteers. Notably, nveyed a reluctance to accept participatn by anyone who engaged sexual nduct outsi of a heterosexual the BSA's new policy, gay lears who were prevly removed om Sutg bee of the ban would have the opportuny to reapply for volunteer posns.

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. "He ced an announcement by the BSA's New York Cy chapter early April that had hired Pasl Tsier, the natn's first openly gay Eagle Sut, as a summer mp lear. Kenh 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.

4 ln boys and about 1 ln the 2013 cisn to adm gay youth, some nservativ spl om the BSA to form a new group, Trail Life USA, which has created s own ranks, badg and uniforms. 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.

BOY SUTS OF AMERI LIFTS BAN ON GAY ADULT LEARS

The stage had been set for Monday's actn on May 21, when Gat told the Suts' natnal meetg that the long-standg ban on participatn by openly gay adults was no longer staable. 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.

BOY SUTS TO ALLOW GAY YOUTHS TO JO

He ced an announcement by the BSA's New York Cy chapter early April that had hired Pasl Tsier, the natn's first openly gay Eagle Sut, as a summer mp lear.

GAY BOY SUTS? WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR BOYS?

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. 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 BOY SUTS AND THEIR POLICY AGAST GAY LEARS

""While we still have some rervatns about dividual uns discrimatg agast gay adults, we uldn’t be more exced about the future of Sutg, " said Suts for Equaly executive director Zach Wahls. "[T]he 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. Openly gay youths will be allowed to jo sutg, a historic cisn the Boy Suts of Ameri says will keep uncloud by “a sgle, divisive, and unrolved societal issue.

“The rolutn also rerc that Sutg is a youth program, and any sexual nduct, whether heterosexual or homosexual, by youth of Sutg age is ntrary to the virtu of Sutg, ” the 103-year-old anizatn said a statement after the vote.

Tyrrell, an terview wh CNN affiliate KTVT, said that the vote energized her for her next ph – to change Boy Sut policy so that gays and lbian adults, like herself, n serve as lears.

BOY SUTS TO REPEAL BAN ON GAY LEARS, WH LIMATNS

He claimed that sutg groups now have two optns: to “segregate” gay suts om heterosexual on by puttg them separate tents, or “put homosexual boys wh other boys and put them at risk.

“While a majory of adults the Sutg muny support the BSA’s current policy of excludg open and avowed homosexuals, young parents and teens tend to oppose the policy, ” the survey said. A recent Washgton Post-ABC News Poll showed that 63% of Amerins said they would support allowg gay youths to jo the Boy Suts. The vote more than a after the Supreme Court led that the anizatn has the right to keep out gays but also at a time of clg participatn the anizatn.

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

Ti Perez, the BSA’s natnal missner, said there have been ongog talks wh church and others opposed to the cln of gay suts. The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms homosexualy, the clatn of beg sexually attracted to the same sex, is herently disorred (CCC 2357). Bob Cadwallar is sutmaster of Troop 822 suburban CADWALLADER, Troop 822 Sutmaster: To me, personally, homosexualy is not natural, and I do not want tght or prented to my children as natural.

For New York Cy's Troop 729, the Boy Suts' posn on homosexualy has created an agonizg nflict between their valu and their loyalty to the HANSEN NELSON, Troop 729, Assistant Sutmaster: Inially, I wanted out; I wanted to rign prott, you know. Officials at the natnal headquarters of the Boy Suts of Ameri cled to ment about fundraisg or their posn on homosexuals, but they have posted their ratnale for the policy on their Web se: "An avowed homosexual is not a role mol for the tradnal moral valu poed the Sut Oath and Law and homosexual nduct is nsistent wh the valu we wish to still.

BOY SUTS PANEL ADOPTS ROLUTN TO ALLOW GAY SUT LEARS

They were very trated wh the fact that so much of what Boy Suts stands for was kd of phed out of the way bee of, you know, a uple of people thk that homosexualy is a s. What changed is the more open, nontatnal challenge that was prented to the Boy Suts after 1970, the rise of the homosexual rights movement, the rise of the more radil separatn of church and state movement.

Inherently attached to this issue is a very strong array of fears and anxieti, many of which may even be fairly unrstandable bee they rive om a perd when there were wily held beliefs about homosexualy that we now no longer subscribe to. I wonred what he would say if someone on his Eagle board of review, his fal hurdle, asked him whether he would follow the Boy Sut's policy excludg gays. " But now some relig groups, and adult lears, and the boys themselv have been led by those same words to very different nclns about gay people and sutg.

BOY SUTS OF AMERI ENDS BAN ON GAY SUT LEARS

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. Secretary of Defense, ed a speech at the Boy Suts’ annual natnal meetg this year to ll on the anizatn to repeal the ban on openly gay adults.

In his speech, Gat said that a number of factors, cludg potential discrimatn lawsus, ternal disput over the policy and the impendg Supreme Court gay marriage cisn had nvced him that the le was untenable. “Boy Suts of Ameri, ” the group said, “believ that homosexual nduct is nsistent wh the obligatns the Sut Oath and Sut Law to be morally straight and clean thought, word and ed. ) The advent of the Obama admistratn led to several polici aimed at improvg the liv of gays and lbians, and the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that banned openly gay men, lbians and bisexuals om ary service was overturned same year, the Boy Suts of Ameri executive board began what would bee a two-year review of s policy on gays.

But 2013, as the group faced cricism om lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr rights groups that assailed as phg discrimatory polici, the Boy Suts formally announced an end to s ban on gay Suts. Wahls, who found Suts for Equaly, a nonprof group that advot for stronger protectns the anizatn for gay and transgenr people, ld the move. Dpe Dale’s 12-year relatnship wh the Boy Suts, the anizatn severed their ti wh him after learng of a news article that intified him as the -print of his universy’s Lbian/Gay Alliance.

BOY SUTS OF AMERI ENDS BAN ON GAY AND LBIAN TROOP LEARS

On July 27, a full 25 years after they revoked Dale’s membership, the anizatn announced would extend membership to openly gay lears.

More troublgly, though, the hatn also perpetuated the historic and homophobic perceptn of gay adults as promiscuo dividuals wh nefar tentns. Although is now possible for gay lears to serve openly the Boys Suts of Ameri, dog so is still jt that: a possibily, not a guarantee. The Boy Suts has lifted s ban on openly gay lears and employe, but has allowed relig chartered anizatns, which operate more than 70 percent of the Boy Suts Sutg uns, “to e relig beliefs as creria for selectg adult lears, cludg matters of sexualy, ” acrdg to their announcement.