Today, the president of the Boy Scouts of America called for an end to the group’s blanket ban on gay adult leaders, warning Scout executives that “we must deal with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be,” and that “any other alternative will be the end of us as a national movement.”
The president, Robert M. Gates, the former director of the C.I.A. and the former secretary of defense, also said that religious organizations that sponsor a majority of local Scout troops, including the Mormons and Roman Catholics, should remain free to set their own policies for leaders, The New York Times reported.
According to the report, Zach Wahls, the executive director of Scouts for Equality, a group that has campaigned for change, praised Mr. Gates for the speech, “Dr. Gates has built his reputation on straight talk and tough decisions, and I’m glad he’s fully endorsing a re-evaluation of the Boy Scouts’ ban on gay adults,” Mr. Wahls said in a statement. “It seems like the Boy Scouts will continue an internal dialogue about the subject and that a change within the next year or two is imminent.”
The Human Rights Campaign urged the Boy Scouts of America to adopt a national policy of LGBT inclusion. “We welcome as a step in the right direction President Gates’ announcement that the organization will not revoke the charters of chapters that welcome gay Scout leaders and employees,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “But, as we have said many times previously, half measures are unacceptable, especially at one of America’s most storied institutions.”
“It’s time for BSA leaders to show true leadership and embrace a full national policy of inclusion that does not discriminate against anyone because of who they are,” Griffin said.
