Scouting Shift

Board may vote to allow gays to join, serve as leaders

For years, the Boy Scouts of America has maintained allowing openly gay children to become Scouts or gay adults to serve as Scout leaders was not compatible with the organization’s moral values.

And it has had to endure a lot of heat over that. Some Eagle Scouts have returned their awards. Some companies, charities and wealthy donors with long ties to Scouting have backed away.

But the Scouts carried on. They even went to court to defeat efforts to force the inclusion of gays—and had their right as a private organization to restrict membership upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

And just last summer, national Scouting officials reaffirmed the ban on gays, calling it “the best policy for the organization.” All that may be changing now. In a move that could come as early as next week, the organization’s board of directors is expected to renounce the ban as national policy.

In its place would be a policy that allows local councils and sponsoring organizations—such as churches and civic groups—to decide the matter for themselves.

“The chartered organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting would accept membership and select leaders consistent with their organization’s mission, principles or religious beliefs,” spokesman Deron Smith told NBC News.

“The Boy Scouts would not, under any circumstances, dictate a position to units, members or parents. Under this proposed policy, BSA would not require any chartered organization to act in ways inconsistent with that organization’s mission, principles or religious beliefs,” he added.

While the expected position shift may placate some supporters, it will likely draw fire from others. The ban on gay Scouts has a lot of support. And any move to dislodge the ban could cost the Scouts dearly in donations. And some parents will likely remove their kids from the program as well.

So it’s kind of a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.

The move makes sense. Local councils and sponsoring groups will be able to do what’s best for those they serve. Some will drop the ban immediately, but we suspect most will continue on as before, at least initially. Certainly no church, for example, with a resident Scout troop should be forced to allow gays to participate.

And the national organization will be able to shift responsibility and hopefully minimize—if that’s possible—the impact on the group as a whole.

We are sure some will say this signals the end of Scouting as we have known it. Others will say any damage will fade in time and the organization will remain strong—and maybe become stronger through diversity.

Who knows? It’s a big change for the Scouts. And we’ll just have to wait and see what happens a few years down the road.