By John Mack Freeman
Boy Scout President Robert Gates announced his support for ending the ban on gay adult leaders in the organization at the group’s annual meeting in Atlanta this past week. Gates said that given the cascading changes surrounding the issue at this time — including shifts in employment discrimination laws, internal dissent from local groups, and the expected Supreme Court ruling on same sex marriage — the organization should shift with the times and end the ban.
While Secretary of Defense, Gates was part of the team that dismantled the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy in the US armed forces, allowing gay, lesbian, and bisexual soldiers to openly serve.
The shift is likely to be somewhat controversial as the majority of scouting groups are sponsored by religious organizations. The Mormon Church is the largest sponsor of troops in the country. Via The New York Times:
The Mormon Church uses the Boy Scouts as its main organization for boys and is by far the largest sponsor of Scout troops, overseeing more than 437,000 youths as of 2013, of a national total of 2.6 million youths participating in the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Explorer Scouts and other programs.
The church issued a guarded statement Thursday: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will, of course, examine any such changes very carefully to assess how they might impact our own century-long association with the B.S.A.” If the Scouts’ executive board adopts the policy Mr. Gates has recommended, letting local groups set their own leadership rules, the church is not likely to be affected.
In an interview with NPR, Gates said he expected a decision by October. Whiles Gates’s presidency of the Boy Scouts is voluntary, it comes with significant national influence. Many will be waiting to see how this unfurls and to see if the Boy Scouts will truly becoming a welcoming organization on the national level.
