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| FILE - In this July 18, 2012 file photo, Jennifer Tyrrell, right, arrives for a meeting at the Boys Scouts of America national offices in Irving, Texas, with her son Jude Burns, 5, second from right, partner Alicia Burns, and son Cruz Burns, 7, left. The Ohio woman was ousted as a den mother because she is a lesbian. The Boys Scouts of America announced Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, that it is considering a dramatic retreat from its controversial policy of excluding gays as leaders and youth members. |
NEW YORK (AP)
-- The Boy Scouts of America may soon give sponsors of troops the
authority to decide whether to accept gays as scouts and leaders - a
potentially dramatic retreat from an exclusionary nationwide policy that
has provoked relentless protests.
Under the
change now being discussed, the different religious and civic groups
that sponsor Scout units would be able to decide for themselves how to
address the issue - either maintaining an exclusion of gays, as is now
required of all units, or opening up their membership.
Monday's
announcement of the possible change comes after years of protests over
the no-gays policy - including petition campaigns that have prompted
some corporations to suspend donations to the Boy Scouts.
Under
the proposed change, said BSA spokesman Deron Smith, "the Boy Scouts
would not, under any circumstances, dictate a position to units,
members, or parents."
Smith said the change
could be announced as early as next week, after BSA's national board
concludes a regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 6. The meeting will be
closed to the public.
The BSA, which
celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010, has long excluded both gays
and atheists. Smith said a change in the policy toward atheists was not
being considered, and that the BSA continued to view "Duty to God" as
one of its basic principles.
Protests over the
no-gays policy gained momentum in 2000, when the U.S. Supreme Court
upheld the BSA's right to exclude gays. Scout units lost sponsorships by
public schools and other entities that adhered to nondiscrimination
policies, and several local Scout councils made public their displeasure
with the policy.
More recently, amid petition
campaigns, shipping giant UPS Inc. and drug-manufacturer Merck
announced that they were halting donations from their charitable
foundations to the Boy Scouts as long as the no-gays policy was in
force.
Also, local Scout officials drew
widespread criticism in recent months for ousting Jennifer Tyrrell, a
lesbian mom, as a den leader of her son's Cub Scout pack in Ohio and for
refusing to approve an Eagle Scout application by Ryan Andresen, a
California teen who came out as gay last fall.
Tyrrell
said she's thrilled for parents and their children who've been excluded
from scouting and "for those who are in Scouts and hiding who they
are."
"For me it's not just about the Boy
Scouts of America, it's about equality," she told The Associated Press.
"This is a step toward equality in all aspects."
Many
of the protest campaigns, including one seeking Tyrrell's
reinstatement, had been waged with help from the Gay & Lesbian
Alliance Against Defamation.
"The Boy Scouts
of America have heard from scouts, corporations and millions of
Americans that discriminating against gay scouts and scout leaders is
wrong," said Herndon Graddick, GLAAD's president. "Scouting is a
valuable institution, and this change will only strengthen its core
principles of fairness and respect."
The
Scouts had reaffirmed the no-gays policy as recently as last year, and
appeared to have strong backing from conservative religious
denominations - notably the Mormons, Roman Catholics and Southern
Baptists - which sponsor large numbers of Scout units. Under the
proposed change, they could continue excluding gays.
Prior
to Monday's announcement, the BSA conferred with some leaders of these
religious groups, although there were no official statements as to how
they would respond.
Said Sister Mary Ann
Walsh, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, "The
bishops hope the Boy Scouts will continue to work under the
Judeo-Christians principles upon which they were founded and under which
they have served youth well."
Were the change
adopted, said Deron Smith, "there would no longer be any national
policy regarding sexual orientation, and the chartered organizations
that oversee and deliver Scouting would accept membership and select
leaders consistent with each organization's mission, principles, or
religious beliefs.
"BSA members and parents
would be able to choose a local unit that best meets the needs of their
families," he said. "Under this proposed policy, the BSA would not
require any chartered organization to act in ways inconsistent with that
organization's mission, principles, or religious beliefs."
The
announcement came shortly after new data showed that membership in the
Cub Scouts - the BSA's biggest division - dropped sharply last year, and
was down nearly 30 percent over the past 14 years.
According
to figures provided by the organization, Cub Scout ranks dwindled by
3.4 percent, from 1,583,166 in 2011 to 1,528,673 in 2012. That's down
from 2.17 million in 1998.
The Boy Scouts
attribute the decline largely to broad social changes, including the
allure of video games and the proliferation of youth sports leagues and
other options for after-school activities.
However,
critics of the Scouts suggest that its recruitment efforts have been
hampered by high-profile controversies - notably the court-ordered
release of files dealing with sex abuse allegations and persistent
protests over the no-gays policy.
The BSA's
overall "traditional youth membership" - Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and
Venturers - totaled 2,658,794 in 2012, compared to more than 4 million
in peak years of the past. There were 910,668 Boy Scouts last year, a
tiny increase from 2011, while the ranks of Venturers - a program for
youths 14 and older- declined by 5.5 percent.
In
addition to flak over the no-gays policy, the Scouts have been buffeted
by multiple court cases related to past allegations of sexual abuse by
Scout leaders, including those chronicled in long-confidential records
that are widely known as the "perversion files."
Through
various cases, the Scouts have been forced to reveal files dating from
the 1960s to 1991. They detailed numerous cases where abuse claims were
made and Boy Scout officials never alerted authorities and sometimes
actively sought to protect the accused.
The
Scouts are now under a California court order, affirmed this month by
the state Supreme Court, to turn over sex-abuse files from 1991 through
2011 to the lawyers for a former Scout who claims a leader molested him
in 2007, when he was 13. It's not clear how soon the files might become
public.
The BSA has apologized for past lapses
and cover-ups, and has stressed the steps taken to improve youth
protection policy. Since 2010, for example, it has mandated that any
suspected abuse be reported to police.
