On New Year’s Day, Boy Suts of Ameri officially lifts ban on gay youth | PBS NewsHour

Contents:

• ON NEW YEAR’S DAY, BOY SUTS OF AMERI OFFICIALLY LIFTS BAN ON GAY YOUTH
• BOY SUTS VOTE TO LIFT BAN ON GAY YOUTH
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI ENDS BAN ON GAY ADULT LEARS
• BOY SUTS LOST 2 LN MEMBERS SCE LIFTG BAN ON GAY YOUTH; NOW MIRED SEX ABE CLAIMS
• BOY SUTS TO REPEAL BAN ON GAY LEARS, WH LIMATNS
• BOY SUTS VOTE TO END BAN ON GAY SUTS; GAY ADULTS STILL BARRED
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI VOT TO ALLOW GAY SUT LEARS
• BOY SUTS CHANGE POLICY ON GAY LEARS
• BOY SUTS PRINT: LIFT BAN ON GAY ADULTS
• BOY SUTS END LONGTIME BAN ON OPENLY GAY YOUTHS
• BOY SUTS LIFT BLANKET BAN ON GAY ADULT LEARS, EMPLOYE
• BOY SUTS OF AMERI VOT TO END NTROVERSIAL BAN ON OPENLY-GAY SUT LEARS
• BOY SUTS PROPOSG TO LIFT GAY BAN FOR YOUTH, KEEP BAN FOR ADULT LEARS
• GOODBYE, GAY BAN: WHAT THE BOY SUTS MT DO NOW
• BOY SUTS MOVE TO LIFT BAN ON GAY YOUTH MEMBERS

ON NEW YEAR’S DAY, BOY SUTS OF AMERI OFFICIALLY LIFTS 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. 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.

Web reacts to Suts liftg ban on gaysBoy Suts vote on gays: What's at stakeSuts propose allowg gay suts, but banng learsMormon church OK wh endg Suts' ban on gay youthMiranda Lesger and Jason Whe, NBC News.

BOY SUTS VOTE TO LIFT BAN ON GAY YOUTH

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.

BOY SUTS OF AMERI ENDS BAN ON GAY ADULT LEARS

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. 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.

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

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. 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.

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. 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. "But recent months, some church have backed away om their opposn, acrdg to the gay advocy group Mormon church, which sponsors most of the troops, has now endorsed allowg gay Suts. 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.

BOY SUTS TO REPEAL BAN ON GAY LEARS, WH LIMATNS

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. 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.

He has now worked for the anizatn for five said he and many other gay Suts "live wh apprehensn, hidg our personal liv and not knowg if we uld be outed and fired at any moment. 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 VOTE TO END BAN ON GAY SUTS; GAY ADULTS STILL BARRED

"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, 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.

BOY SUTS OF AMERI VOT TO ALLOW GAY SUT LEARS

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. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTBoy Suts End Longtime Ban on Openly Gay YouthsVioThe cisn to allow openly gay Boy Suts but not lears eliced strong feelgs om the sutg 23, 2013GRAPEVINE, Tex. But the vote put the Suts more le wh the swift rise public acceptance of homosexualy, pecially among younger parents who are sential to the future of an stutn that has been losg members for policy change, effective January 2014, is unlikely to brg peace to the Boy Suts as they stggle to keep a foothold a swirlg cultural landspe, wh renewed lobbyg and bate already startg Thursday Suts did not nsir the even more divisive qutn of whether to allow openly gay adults and lears.

BOY SUTS CHANGE POLICY ON GAY LEARS

This drew cricism om advot for gay rights, who lled the cisn a breakthrough but vowed to ntue prsg the Suts to allow gay members of all nservative church and parents said the Suts were vlatg their oath to be “morally straight” and said they would drop out.

”Lears of the nservative factn predicted that lawsus would soon force the Boy Suts to allow openly gay lears, and they acced the top lears of ignorg the beliefs of their members. ”“This great stutn is gog to be viated by the tsn of a polil agenda, ” he the cisn was announced Thursday, John Stemberger, an evangelil lear om Florida who anized a mpaign to block the change, said that like-md groups and parents would meet next month Louisville, Ky., to discs creatg what he lled a new “character velopment anizatn for boys, ” an alternative to Gutierrez/Associated PrsGlaad, a gay-rights group that has mpaigned for change over the last year, said would keep prsure on the Boy Suts over the learship issue. Several sponsors, cludg the UPS Foundatn, Merck, the Intel Foundatn, and many lol Uned Ways and cy agenci had already end fancg for the Suts bee the group’s polici vlated their own nondiscrimatn a closed meetg of the assembled legat here Wednday night, the top three lears of the Boy Suts — Wayne Brock, the paid chief executive; Wayne Perry, the volunteer print who is a rporate lear om Washgton State; and Ti Perez, the volunteer missner and a nsultant Florida — ma a strong plea to legat and dissentg board members to allow gay youths, sayg the goal of sutg was to reach as many boys as possible, acrdg to people who attend.

BOY SUTS PRINT: LIFT BAN ON GAY ADULTS

But surveys this sprg, many parents and volunteers around the untry said they were agast the ia of openly gay sut Makela for The New York TimThe vote was a btersweet one for David Knapp, 86, who spent much of his life sutg as a boy, as a profsnal staff member and later as a volunteer wh a uncil Connecticut. Allison Mackey of Hanover, Pa., has five sons — one an Eagle Sut, three now active sutg and an 8-year-old who had planned to fay has discsed the issue and reached a cisn, she said: All the sons were willg to abandon the Boy Suts if openly gay members are allowed.

BOY SUTS END LONGTIME BAN ON OPENLY GAY YOUTHS

”A rrectn was ma onMay 25, 2013: An article on Friday about a cisn by the Boy Suts of Ameri to end a policy of forbiddg openly gay youths to participate s activi misstated the surname of a man who spent much of his life Sutg but said he was forced out bee of his sexual orientatn. 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.

The selectn of Gat as print last year was seen as an opportuny to revis the policy on adult lears sce he helped end the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy that barred openly gay people om servg the U. 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. ”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.

BOY SUTS LIFT BLANKET BAN ON GAY ADULT LEARS, EMPLOYE

”The vote two years after the BSA lifted s ban on openly gay youth, a dramatic step for an anizatn whose lears went to the Supreme Court to fight acceptg openly gay members. 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. 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.

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

Roger Oldham, a spokman for the Southern Baptist Conventn, said tradnal groups are braced for the possibily that soon, even church-based groups will be required to fully accept gay lears.

”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.

Gay-rights groups have mand a plete liftg of the ban, while some church and nservative groups want mataed s entirety, raisg the likelihood that the new proposal will draw ntued cricism om both sis. "The proposed 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 statement said. In a summary of the fdgs, said rponnts supported the BSA's current policy of excludg gays by a marg of 61 percent to 34 percent, while a majory of younger parents and teens opposed the policy.

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

It said overwhelmg majori of parents, teens and members of the Sutg muny felt would be unacceptable to ny an openly gay Sut an Eagle Sut Award solely bee of his sexual orientatn. 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. 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.

GOODBYE, GAY BAN: WHAT THE BOY SUTS MT DO NOW

”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.

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. Shannon Stapleton/RtersIn recent months, the Boy Suts have nducted discsns and surveys on the issue around the untry, wh rults that mirrored the untry’s chang and divisns over gay rights.

BOY SUTS MOVE TO LIFT BAN ON GAY YOUTH MEMBERS

They found that while a majory of adults volved wh sutg supported the past policy of excludg gays, parents unr the age of 50 and a majory of teenagers opposed , acrdg to a summary of the fdgs released Mr. 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 Boy Suts have missed an opportuny to exercise learship and her the anizatn back to relevancy, ” said Richard Ferraro, the vice print of the Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Discrimatn.