A century-long practice of excluding gays from positions in the Boy Scouts of America could end Monday, when the organization's national executive board is scheduled to vote on lifting a ban on gay leaders.
Here, and nationally, people are awaiting the vote with anticipation or resignation.
Most observers believe the national council will lift a ban as old as the organization itself. A vote for change would allow for the first time admittedly gay people into the ranks of den leaders, scout masters and other positions of leadership.
The pending vote underscores a decision two years ago to allow openly gay scouts into packs and troops, another ban that had stood for decades. It also comes two months after Scouting’s president said the time to permit gays to run Cub Scout packs and Boy Scout troops is overdue.
The vote is significant in the metro area, where the Atlanta Area Council of Scouting serves more than 32,000 youths annually. The council comprises 13 counties where more than 760 troops, packs and other units operate. It’s one of the nation’s largest. Nationwide, Scouting comprises about 2.7 million children and young people.
It’s only fair to admit gay men and women into positions of leadership, said Bill Jordan, who has sons in Cub and Boy Scouts.
“I think it’s a wonderful change, and about time,” said Jordan, an assistant scout master in Troop 197 and a den leader in Pack 212, both in Atlanta.
Jordan, an Eagle Scout, anticipates more people joining Scouting if the ban is lifted.
“My hope is that (gay) parents … can now feel that Scouting will be a more inclusive place,” he said.
Another Atlanta-area Eagle Scout is opposed to a change.
"We know the legacy of the Boy Scouts of America," said Stuart Michelson, a member of the board of directors of Trail Life USA, an organization formed two years ago after Scouting lifted the ban on openly gay scouts. Like the BSA, it stresses camping and other outdoor adventures, but draws the line on having gay leaders.
“We’re saddened,” Michelson said, “to see them abandon the principles they’ve held for 100 years.”
The vote is the latest in what appears to be a sea change for the organization, founded in this country in 1910.
In January 2014, the BSA formally lifted its ban on allowing openly gay youths into scouting. That change capped months of debate within the organization.
In May, BSA President Robert Gates joined the chorus calling for further change. Speaking in Atlanta, Gates, a former director of the CIA and an erstwhile secretary of defense, urged scout leaders to consider changing its gay-leadership policy before the courts do it.
“The country is changing, and we are increasingly at odds with the legal landscape at the state and federal levels,” he said. “…We can act on our own or we can be forced (by courts) to act. But either way, I suspect we don’t have a lot of time.”
The latest portent of change occurred earlier this month, when the organization's executive committee unanimously approved a resolution calling for an end to a ban on gay adult leaders.
That resolution underscored an even greater change: the U.S. Supreme Court's June 26 vote that legalized gay marriage.
Zach Wahls, founder and executive director of Scouts for Equality, believes the organization's leaders have little choice but to change policy. Formed in 2012, Scouts for Equality is a nonprofit calling for a more inclusive BSA.
“I guess Boy Scouts thought it wasn’t worth fighting anymore,” said Wahls, an Eagle Scout. “To go from where they were three years ago to where they are today is really remarkable.”
Scouting has moved in the wrong direction, said John Stemberger, Trail Life USA’s founder. The organization, he said, is Christianity based, though members don’t have to profess religious beliefs. It stresses outdoor adventures and leadership development; the Bible is its moral compass.
Since its founding two years ago, the organization has grown to encompass more than 500 troops, Stemberger said. At least nine operate in the metro region. Trail Life has units in 49 states and has about 25,000 members, Stemberger said.
He anticipates more. “The (troop) map speaks for itself,” said Stember, an Eagle Scout.
The Atlanta Area Council is prepared for whatever vote comes, said Jason Baldridge, who oversees youth-protection training for the council. The council, he said, already has “incredibly robust’ youth-safety policies in effect.
“We’re on standby to hear the news,” Baldridge, whose official title is Safe Scouting and Youth Protection Director, said last week. “However the national policy goes, we’ll adhere to that.”
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