Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Boy Scouts executive committee endorses ending ban on gay leaders


The executive committee of the Boy Scouts of America has unanimously approved a resolution that would drop the group’s blanket ban on openly gay leaders, a key step that puts the organization on the verge of its second historic shift in three years.

While the proposed change stops short of requiring all Scout units to allow gay leaders, it would dismantle a rule that the group’s president described earlier this year as an existential threat to the 105-year-old institution.

This resolution, approved on Friday, now goes to the organization’s national executive board. If the group ratifies the change during a meeting on July 27, it would become official Scouts policy.

“What this means is that gay adults who want to get involved, and there are lots of them, they can put the uniform back on, and they can serve openly and honestly in an inclusive unit that will accept them,” Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scout and executive director of Scouts for Equality, said in a telephone interview Monday. “I couldn’t be happier about that.”  (more...)

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