Boy Suts on track to change policy and allow gay and lbian troop lears | LGBTQ+ rights | The Guardian

Contents:

• BOY SUTS CHANGE POLICY ON GAY LEARS
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI ENDS BAN ON GAY AND LBIAN TROOP LEARS
• BOY SUTS END BAN ON GAY LEARS, OVER PROTTS BY MORMON CHURCH
• BOY SUTS ARE POISED TO END BAN ON GAY LEARS
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI VOT TO ALLOW GAY SUT LEARS
• BOY SUTS MOVE CLOSER TO ENDG BAN ON GAY LEARS
• BOY SUTS ON TRACK TO CHANGE POLICY AND ALLOW GAY AND LBIAN TROOP LEARS
• GROWG GROUP PH BOY SUTS TO ALTER GAY POLICY
• BOY SUTS: WE'RE KEEPG POLICY BANNG GAYS
• BOY SUTS TO ANNOUNCE END OF BAN ON GAY LEARS
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI LIFTS BAN ON GAY LEARS
• BOY SUTS PRINT: LIFT BAN ON GAY ADULTS
• 16 COMPANI THAT END SPONSORSHIP OF BOY SUTS OVER GAY BAN
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI VOT TO END NTROVERSIAL BAN ON OPENLY-GAY SUT LEARS

BOY SUTS CHANGE POLICY ON GAY LEARS

“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.

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.

The natnal erng body of the Boy Suts of Ameri has end a blanket ban on gay adult lears while allowg church-sponsored Sut uns to mata the excln bee of their new policy, aimed at easg a ntroversy that embroiled the Boy Suts for years and threatened the anizatn wh lawsus, tak effect immediately. ”Wahls noted that the anizatn had banned gay people sce 1978, and that s centralized stcture – relig anizatns charter about 70% of Boy Sut troops – means some prejudic have ep roots. ”On 13 July, the anizatn’s executive mtee, head by print and former fense secretary Robert Gat, unanimoly approved the rolutn, sayg there had been a “sea change the law wh rpect to gay rights”.

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

“The BSA natnal policy that prohibs gay adults om servg as lears is no longer legally fensible, ” the anizatn said a statement earlier this month.

”The vote took place only a month and a day after the US supreme urt legalized same-sex marriage throughout the US, strikg down state bans and punctuatg the swift progrs of gay rights wh s 5-4 board’s vote also follows only two years after a long and bter bate at the anizatn’s 2013 meetg Texas, where 60% of some 1, 400 sut lears voted to end the ban. The anizatn said at the time that had no tentns of revisg the earlier this year the New York Cy chapter hired a gay mp unsellor, and said would force the issue urt if necsary to keep the unsellor Boy Suts has about 2.

BOY SUTS END BAN ON GAY LEARS, OVER PROTTS BY MORMON CHURCH

The announcement did not say how many board members were not policy change, which was expected, was wily seen as a watershed for an stutn that has faced growg turmoil over s stance toward gay people, even as stggl to halt a long-term cle members. That approach satisfied no one, forcg the ejectn of gay Eagle Suts when they turned 18 but still g some nservativ to Gat gave an urgent warng May that bee of sdg social and legal chang, the anizatn had no choice but to end s ban on gay lears.

“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.

A rrectn was ma onJuly 27, 2015: An earlier versn of this article referred rrectly to the Mormon church’s view of a new Boy Suts policy on gay adult lears.

BOY SUTS ARE POISED TO END BAN ON GAY LEARS

The church said was “eply troubled” by the policy; there is no evince that had privately agreed to the we handle rrectnsA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 1 of the New York edn wh the headle: Mormons Assail Boy Suts’ Shift on Gay Lears. AdvertisementSKIP Estr/The New York TimJuly 26, 2015The Boy Suts of Ameri is expected on Monday to end s blanket ban on gay lears — a turng pot for an anizatn that has been turmoil over the some sutg groups will still be able to lim learship jobs to ga the acquicence of nservative relig groups that sponsor many packs and troops, like the Mormon and Roman Catholic Church, the policy will allow church-n uns to pick lears who agree wh their moral precepts.

”Already stgglg to reverse a long-term cle membership, the Boy Suts have been creasgly nsumed over the last two s by battl over the excln of gay people that threatened to acture the anizatn. Conservative partners saw the policy as a bulwark agast unwanted social change, but the anti-gay stance was stg the Boy Suts public support and chet as well as rporate funrs, and lately had brought the threat of stly a ntent meetg 2013, the Suts cid to perm participatn by gay youths but not adults.

BOY SUTS OF AMERI VOT TO ALLOW GAY SUT LEARS

On Monday, bowg to shifts opn and law, the Suts will relax their policy barrg openly gay adults om servg as n lears, sutmasters and mp Suts will also on Monday bar discrimatn based on sexual orientatn all official facili and payg jobs across the untry, headg off potential to keep some of the larger church sponsors the fold, Sut executiv nclud that they mt allow for diverse polici for lol volunteers. Church-based uns may “ntue to choose adult lears whose beliefs are nsistent wh their own, ” acrdg to a statement that the Suts’ top executiv sent this month to regnal board step, if plete the view of many gay rights mpaigners, is nohels a momento one for an anizatn that has stggled to keep the allegiance of nservativ as faced open rebelln om more liberal proposal followed a public warng May by Robert M. His firm helped create prsure for change, threateng to sue the Boy Suts if the anizatn tried to bar a gay Eagle Sut om a mp job this summer New Mr.

A., served as fense secretary, and oversaw the end of the ary’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gay service the ary — has won praise for actg cisively to rolve a nflict that threatened to acture the Zalki/Associated Prs“Bee of his history, he was a posn to exercise learship on this issue, ” said Zach Wahls, 24, an Eagle Sut and executive director of Suts for Equaly, which has mounted public mpaigns for change. In a 5-to-4 cisn, the urt said the Suts had the right to force out a gay assistant sutmaster bee the private anizatn’s stance that homosexualy was not “morally straight” was part of the group’s “exprsive msage. At the same time, the share of relig sponsors climbed, and the Suts began attractg more nservative fai, said Richard Ellis, a polil scientist at Willamette Universy Salem, Ore., and thor of the 2014 book “Judgg the Boy Suts of Ameri: Gay Rights, Freedom of Associatn and the Dale Case.

BOY SUTS MOVE CLOSER TO ENDG BAN ON GAY LEARS

But gay rights groups like Glaad and Suts for Equaly helped publicize s of discrimatn and ph several major rporate donors, cludg Intel, Uned Parcel Service and Merck, to whdraw their 2013, the natnal learship proposed what proved to be an illory middle ground — to perm gay youths, a ls sensive issue wh nservativ, but to ntue to ban openly gay change brought ltle peace. In a public challenge signed to force the issue, the affiliate hired Pasl Tsier, an 18-year-old Eagle Sut and gay activist, as a mp Boi and his firm announced that they would reprent Mr.

Gat said the Boy Suts mt quickly change before the urts ma them do the vote to perm gay youths 2013, some evangelil Christian church end their sponsorships, and membership cled by 6 percent, pared wh cl up to 4 percent prev years. 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.

BOY SUTS ON TRACK TO CHANGE POLICY AND ALLOW GAY AND LBIAN TROOP 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.

GROWG GROUP PH BOY SUTS TO ALTER GAY POLICY

"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. “For s, the Boy Suts of Ameri’s ban on gay adults has stood as a towerg example of explic, stutnal homophobia one of Ameri’s most important and regnizable civic anizatns. While this policy change is not perfect – BSA’s relig charterg partners will be allowed to ntue to discrimate agast gay adults – is difficult to overstate the importance of today’s announcement, ” said Zach Wahls, executive director of Suts for Equaly.

BOY SUTS: WE'RE KEEPG POLICY BANNG GAYS

“The vote by the executive mtee to remend that gay, lbian and bisexual adults be allowed to work and volunteer for the Boy Suts is a wele step toward erasg a sta on one of our natn’s most storied anizatns, ” he said. The Boy Suts of Ameri (BSA) are on track to allow gay and lbian lears to the anizatn, after an executive mtee approved a rolutn that would elimate the standg ban agast such the newly adopted rolutn, BSA l would allow people to be troop lears regardls of their sexualy.

The anizatn’s Natnal Executive Board is set to ratify the rolutn on 27 July and ments ma by the BSA print, Robert Gat, May dite that is likely to ph the policy change told a crowd at the BSA meetg Atlanta that if the anizatn upholds s ban on gay lears, “will be the end of as a natnal movement” said the changg natnal climate toward LGBT rights and mountg legal challeng agast BSA bee of the ban left the anizatn wh few other issue was rerced Monday’s announcement, which also clarified that relig-chartered groups n “ntue to choose adult lears whose beliefs are nsistent wh their own” May 2014, BSA announced that would accept openly gay young mal to the programme, but rerced s ban on LGBT adults. Dpe this, groups New York and Colorado allowed gay and lbian sut the rolutn is adopted as scribed BSA documents, lears who were prevly removed bee of their sexualy uld reapply for their Suts for Equaly executive director, Zach Wahls, who has been a lear the movement to change the policy, celebrated the vote on Monday. “For s, the Boy Suts of Ameri’s ban on gay adults has stood as a towerg example of explic, stutnal homophobia one of Ameri’s most important and regnizable civic anizatns, ” he said an emailed statement.

“While this policy change is not perfect – BSA’s relig charterg partners will be allowed to ntue to discrimate agast gay adults – is difficult to overstate the importance of today’s announcement.

BOY SUTS TO ANNOUNCE END OF BAN ON GAY LEARS

Heather Colls wanted her son to be volved Cub Suts, but after disverg some of the s of discrimatn agast gay people by the Boy Suts of Ameri, she pulled her son out of his pack. "However, openly gay adults are still not that might be changg May 21, Robert Gat — print of the Boy Suts of Ameri — ma a speech at the anizatn's natnal nference Atlanta, llg for the laws of the suts to change to allow openly gay adults to participate and be members.

"Currently on the Boy Suts of Ameri's webse — — stat on s membership standards rolutn page that, "While the BSA do not proactively quire about sexual orientatn of employe, volunteers, or members, we do not grant membership to dividuals who are open or avowed homosexuals or who engage behavr that would bee a distractn to the missn of the BSA. ""Discrimatn sutg is wrong"In addn to the Boy Suts' documented discrimatn agast gay people, there have also been s of them discrimatg agast nonrelig Lrie Gaylor, -print of the Freedom From Relign Foundatn Madison, Wis., recently sent a letter to Gat, urgg him to also speak out agast the Boy Suts of Ameri's discrimatn agast atheists. "We mend Gat for phg for the cln of gay adults and sutmasters, but his reasong for was really so they uld keep discrimatn agast atheists and agnostics, " Gaylor said.

BOY SUTS OF AMERI LIFTS BAN ON GAY LEARS

"While Gaylor's and Wahls' missns aren't exactly same, Wahls and Suts for Equaly are favor of everyone to be clud sutg — no matter of race, sexual orientatn or relign. "Boy Suts as a polil targetWhile Several Lower Shore sutmasters and other officials did not rpond for ment on this story, there are some members the Boy Suts of Ameri on Delmarva that don't have a problem wh gay people the group. Still, they wish natnal anizatns like Wahls' and Gaylor's would take their battl elsewhere and leave the anizatn to make s own Palmer, sutmaster of Troop 165 Denton, is one of those people.

"If you had an adult that moved to a posn and says, 'ha ha, I'm gay, ' and mak a big fs about , then you have to wonr if they are to really help the boys or did they jt apply and take the posn to make a statement?

Bee of s current laws, Boy Suts of Ameri hrs openly gay mp unselors om keepg their jobs when they turn 18 and also halts those pursu of the rank of Eagle Sut — somethg most suts work most of their young adult liv for. The Boy Suts of Ameri will keep their ntroversial policy banng gay suts and lears after a nfintial two-year review, the anizatn said announcement amid a stepped-up mpaign om activist groups urgg an end to the membership standards.

BOY SUTS PRINT: LIFT BAN ON GAY ADULTS

Boy Suts review ntroversial anti-gay policy Eagle Sut son of lbian moms: Boys Suts mt end gay discrimatn Gay mom upset after dismissal by Boy Suts Boy Suts board member oppos anti-gay policy The Boy Suts’ policy beme a foc of the U. Supreme Court 2000, when the jtic sid wh the anizatn a lawsu volvg a former assistant Sutmaster who was gay, cg the protectns of the First Wahls, an Eagle Sut who is the son of a lbian uple, has recently mpaigned for changg the policy, along wh Jennifer Tyrrell, who was oted om her post as a Tiger Cubs’ n lear April bee she is a lbian. I've said this before and I'll say aga: this will be the official BSA policy up until the day fally ends, " he said an email to "Regardls of your thoughts on homosexualy, surely we n agree that gay people who serve our troops and muni serve our rpect and gratu.

“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. NPR's Wa Goodwyn reports that the rolutn allows each sut un to ci for self whether to accept gay adult GOODWYN, BYLINE: Perhaps no anizatn has been more roiled by the natn's bate over gay rights than the Boy Suts of Ameri. Gat admted that the last two years, troops around the untry began disregardg the mandat g out of the natnal headquarters by announcg that gay men and boys are wele their troop.

16 COMPANI THAT END SPONSORSHIP OF BOY SUTS OVER GAY BAN

GOODWYN: Stemberger says today's move further to the left to allow gay sut lears the Boy Suts will only alienate church groups like the Southern Baptist Associatn and the Catholic Bishops further. And by g up wh a policy that puts the on of the discrimatn on the lol troop, expos them to creased legal vulnerabily, pecially now that the Supreme Court has legally blsed gay marriage. For cub master Henry Cloch Southern California, the issue is even CLOCH: I would wele the opportuny to have any volunteers, be they gay, straight or whatever.

”In 2013, the Boy Suts’ Natnal Council removed s rtrictn on membership to youth on the basis of sexual orientatn but they kept the ban of s gay adult lears. This policy change was cricized by people and groups on both sis of the issue; LGBTQ anizatns felt didn’t go far enough and relig groups were agast allowg openly gay youth to be members.

Prr to this and for more than thirty years, the Boy Suts of Ameri’s official posn was to ny membership to dividuals (members and lears) who were openly gay. 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.

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

Robert Gat, the print of the Boy Suts of Ameri, lled for the anizatn to end s ban on gay adults remarks (PDF) at the anizatn’s natnal bs meetg Thursday. The Human Rights Campaign, the natn’s largt advocy group for the gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenred muni, said was “a step the right directn, ” though HRC Print Chad Griff said he hop there’s more to e. 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.

The Boy Suts of Ameri July 2015 changed a longstandg policy banng gay adults om leadg troops, a stance that was stg them valuable sponsorships. 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. But lol troops and uncils will be permted to ci for themselv whether they will allow openly gay volunteer wasn’t clear if the promise would satisfy relig tradnalists.

”The executive board’s vote was taken at the suggtn of the group’s print, former fense secretary Robert Gat, who noted that the Suts are facg potential lawsus by gay adults who were shut out of posns.