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It’s LGBT+ History Month. While some of us might be fully aware of what it’s all about, some people might not even know it exists. To explain its history and why it’s so important, Vic Leon-Cutler and James Clarke, two volunteers in Scouts’ UK Inclusion Team, give us their thoughts.
May 22, 2013 · Beginning with James Dale back in 1990, a handful of heroic gay scouts, often with the support of their families, challenged these antigay policies. And the world continued to change.
- Christopher Bram
- Current State of Membership
- A History of Diverse Boys
- Belonging and Outreach
Before we turn to the history of the BSA’s early efforts at inclusion, let’s take a look at the most recent controversies surrounding BSA membership. In February of this year, nine-year-old Joe Maldonado of New Jersey rejoined the BSA following the national office’s decision to formally admit transgender applicants. He had been a member of a Cub Sc...
It may surprise debaters on both sides to learn that public conflicts over membership policies – and contradictory claims over the nature of Boy Scout heritage – are as old as the organization itself. Before the emergence of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America in 1913, some girls clamored unsuccessfully to join Boy Scouting or formed th...
It turns out, both critics and supporters of the new membership policies can claim ownership of Boy Scout heritage. For more than a century, the BSA has allowed each individual troop to limit its membership according to the sponsoring institution or church. And so, the Boy Scouts have traditionally permitted exclusion at the troop level. Yet, natio...
Feb 5, 2017 · Feb. 5, 2017 3 AM PT. When the Boy Scouts of America announced last week that it would now accept transgender boys, it was the latest example of how the storied institution has transformed as the...
In New York, the local Scouts council hired an 18-year-old openly gay Eagle Scout named Pascal Tessier to work at a camp this summer. In doing so, its leaders defied the national ban. Richard...
May 20, 2024 · In his new book, “Morally Straight: How the Fight for LGBTQ+ Inclusion Changed the Boy Scouts — and America,” journalist and former scout Mike De Socio links these controversies and failings, noting the ways that one led to the other.
Aug 7, 2024 · His first book, Morally Straight: How the Fight for LGBTQ+ Inclusion Changed the Boy Scouts—and America (Pegasus Books, 2024), tells the story of the quarter-century fight for LGBTQ+ inclusion in that truly iconic institution.
