They want to soar like Eagles
Boy Scouts will open ranks to girls
A Bay State Boy Scout leader says he’s thrilled that the national council is allowing girls into the traditionally all-male organization.
“I think it’s great news,” said Chuck Eaton, executive director of the Boy Scout Spirit of Adventure Council in Milton. “I’m super excited. We are in the business of developing character, citizenship, and personal fitness in youth so we have a better society. Anytime we have a chance to broaden the scope to girls who want to participate in the program, great. How can that be a bad thing?”
Friends Maia Stark, 11, and Ocean Farinella, 9, were at the Boy Scout’s Milton camp for an unrelated event yesterday when the news broke. Both girls said they plan to be among the first girls to join the Boy Scouts next September.
“I want to do the fire and climbing and stuff like that,” Ocean said.
Maia said she was looking forward to the pocket knife, and had her eye on the grand prize as well.
“My friend Ocean and I both want to become Eagle Scouts because no girl has done that before,” she said.
It is the latest momentous policy shift for the Boy Scouts of America.
Founded in 1910 and long considered a bastion of tradition, the Boy Scouts have undergone major changes in the past five years, agreeing to accept openly gay youth members and adult volunteers, as well as transgender boys.
The expansion of girls’ participation, announced yesterday after unanimous approval by the organization’s board of directors, is arguably the biggest change yet, potentially opening the way for hundreds of thousands of girls to join.
Many scouting organizations in other countries already allow both genders and use gender-free names such as Scouts Canada. But for now, the Boy Scout label will remain.
The Girl Scouts of the USA have criticized the initiative, saying it strains the century-old bond between the two organizations. Girl Scout officials have suggested the BSA’s move was driven partly by a need to boost revenue, and they contended there is fiscal stress in part because of past settlements paid by the BSA in sex-abuse cases.
As of March, the Girl Scouts reported more than 1.5 million youth members and 749,000 adult members.
The Boy Scouts, meanwhile, say current youth participation is about 2.35 million.