Boy Scouts To Allow Gay Scouts, Exclude Gay Adults

The Boys Scouts of America have voted to end their ban on openly gay Scouts but did not vote on the existing ban on openly gay adult Scout leaders.

NBC News reports

Over 61 percent of Scouting's National Council of 1,400 delegates from across the country voted to lift the ban, BSA officials said. The final tally was 757 yes votes, to 475 no. The ban on gay leaders was not voted on and will remain in place. 

"This resolution today dealt with youth. We have not changed our adult membership standards. They have served us well for the last 100 years. Those were not on the table," said Tico Perez, BSA national commissioner.

The policy change will go into effect Jan. 1, 2014, "allowing the Boy Scouts of America the transition time needed to communicate and implement this policy to its approximately 116,000 Scouting units," the BSA said in a statement.

But the outcome of the historic ballot is not going to end the debate: Some opponents on the right said they would pull their sponsorships of packs and troops, and parents threatened to take their boys out of Scouting; LGBT activists said the policy change doesn't go far enough because gay adults still wouldn't be allowed to participate.

This is a nice step forward but the fact that they did not even consider the ban on openly gay adult Scout leaders is still quite problematic. However, some progress is better than none. It will only be merely a matter of time where openly gay Scouts who "age out" of the policy and want to remain involved with Scouting challenge the ban on openly gay adults.

Hat/tip to LGBT Think Progress