Boy Suts to repeal ban on gay lears, wh limatns | PBS News Weekend

Contents:

• BOY SUTS TO REPEAL BAN ON GAY LEARS, WH LIMATNS
• GAY BOY SUTS? WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR BOYS?
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI VOT TO ALLOW GAY SUT LEARS
• CAN A GAY BOY SUT SHARE A TENT WH ANOTHER BOY? BOY SUTS SURVEY MEMBERS ON ANTI-GAY POLICY
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI ENDS BAN ON GAY ADULT LEARS
• BOY SUTS CHANGE POLICY ON GAY LEARS

BOY SUTS TO REPEAL BAN ON GAY LEARS, WH LIMATNS

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. The Suts’ current adult learship standards policy prohibs membership to “dividuals who are open or avowed homosexuals.

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.

In 2013, the Suts cid to allow gay youths to participate sutg, a policy that took effect the followg year. 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.

GAY BOY SUTS? WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR BOYS?

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. Later, 2015, lifted s ban on gay sutmasters, spe the anizatn’s history of sexual abe by the same. BSA Embrac Homosexual Suts and Sutmasters.

In 1990, the BSA revoked Jam Dale’s volvement on the grounds that homosexuals were banned om membership.

BOY SUTS OF AMERI VOT TO ALLOW GAY SUT LEARS

At the time, the BSA stated that havg gay Sutmasters ntradicted the Sut Oath keepg s members “morally straight. In 2013, the Boy Suts cid to adm openly gay Suts.

In 2015, the ban on gay Sutmasters was lifted. In fact, BSA dit a whole paragraph s Sut or Sutmaster eligibily requirements to those who have homosexual clatns. In jt a ltle over a , BSA pletely reversed s valu regardg homosexual members.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms homosexualy, the clatn of beg sexually attracted to the same sex, is herently disorred (CCC 2357). The Boy Suts of Ameri, changg s polici to clu homosexuals, opened Pandora’s box. An all-male anizatn cludg gays should have secured the protectn and safety of the young Suts participatg the BSA.

CAN A GAY BOY SUT SHARE A TENT WH ANOTHER BOY? BOY SUTS SURVEY MEMBERS ON ANTI-GAY POLICY

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.

"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. But some church have been openly cril of the ban on gay sut lears.

Supreme Court upheld the Suts' right to exclu an assistant sutmaster, Jam Dale, after he me out as gay. "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. Jt over one year after liftg s ban on gay employe, the Boy Suts of Ameri has announced will accept transgenr boys as members of s sutg chapters natnwi.

BOY SUTS OF AMERI ENDS BAN ON GAY ADULT LEARS

"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. What about gays jog the Suts? From s foundg, the group had a strict policy: No openly gay members.

“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.

BOY SUTS CHANGE POLICY ON GAY LEARS

) 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.

What about gay adult lears?