A spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) says its national executive committee last Friday approved a resolution to lift the membership restriction regarding sexual orientation, while respecting the right of religious chartered organizations to continue to choose adult leaders whose beliefs are consistent with their own.
NBC News reports that if approved, the rule would mean that the Scouts would consider all qualified and eligible persons for hire, without regard to their sexual orientation, for all staff positions that require membership. The executive board will consider the rule for ratification at a meeting July 27.
Responding to the news HRC President Chad Griffin said, “The vote by the executive committee to recommend that gay, lesbian and bisexual adults be allowed to work and volunteer for the Boy Scouts is a welcome step toward erasing a stain on one of our nation’s most storied organizations. But writing in an exemption for troops organized by religious organizations undermines the potentially historic nature of today’s vote.”
“As we have said countless times, half measures are unacceptable and discriminatory exemptions have no place in the Boy Scouts,” continued Griffin. “It’s long overdue that BSA leaders demonstrate true leadership and embrace a full national policy of inclusion that does not discriminate against anyone because of who they are.”
