Gay ban not viable, Boy Scouts' president says

In this Monday, Feb. 10, 2014 file photo, Pascal Tessier, center, takes part in an activity with fellow scouts Matthew Huerta, left, and Michael Fine, right, after he received his Eagle Scout badge in Chevy Chase, Md. On Thursday, April 2, 2015, the Boy Scouts New York chapter announced it hired Tessier as the nations first openly gay Eagle Scout as a summer camp leader in public contrast to the national scouting organizations ban on openly gay adult members.
In this Monday, Feb. 10, 2014 file photo, Pascal Tessier, center, takes part in an activity with fellow scouts Matthew Huerta, left, and Michael Fine, right, after he received his Eagle Scout badge in Chevy Chase, Md. On Thursday, April 2, 2015, the Boy Scouts New York chapter announced it hired Tessier as the nations first openly gay Eagle Scout as a summer camp leader in public contrast to the national scouting organizations ban on openly gay adult members.

NEW YORK -- The national president of the Boy Scouts of America, Robert Gates, said Thursday that the organization's long-standing ban on participation by openly gay adults is no longer sustainable, and called for change to avert potentially destructive legal battles.

In a speech in Atlanta to the Scouts' national annual meeting, Gates referred to recent moves by Scout councils in New York City and elsewhere to defy the ban.

"The status quo in our movement's membership standards cannot be sustained," he said.

Gates said no change in the policy would be made at the national meeting. But he raised the possibility of revising the policy at some point soon so Scout organizations could decide on their own whether to allow gays as adult volunteers and paid staff members.

In 2013, after internal debate, the Boy Scouts of America decided to allow openly gay youths as Scouts, but not gay adults as leaders. The change took effect in January 2014.

Gates, who became the Boy Scouts of America's president in May 2014, said at the time that he personally would have favored ending the ban on gay adults, but he opposed any further debate after the Scouts' policymaking body upheld the ban.

On Thursday, however, he said recent events "have confronted us with urgent challenges I did not foresee and which we cannot ignore."

He cited the recent announcement by the New York City chapter in early April that it had hired the nation's first openly gay Eagle Scout as a summer camp leader. He also cited broader developments related to gay rights.

"I remind you of the recent debates we have seen in places like Indiana and Arkansas over discrimination based on sexual orientation, not to mention the impending U.S. Supreme Court decision this summer on gay marriage," he said. "We must deal with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be."

Gates said the Boy Scouts of America technically had the power to revoke the charters of councils that defied the ban on gay adults but said this would be harmful to boys in those regions.

He also noted that many states have passed laws prohibiting employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, raising the possibility of extensive legal battles.

"Thus, between internal challenges and potential legal conflicts, the BSA finds itself in an unsustainable position, a position that makes us vulnerable to the possibility the courts simply will order us at some point to change our membership policy," Gates said.

He expressed concern that an eventual court order also might strike down the Boy Scouts' policy of banning atheists.

"Waiting for the courts is a gamble with huge stakes," he said. "Alternatively, we can move at some future date -- but sooner rather than later -- to seize control of our own future, set our own course and change our policy in order to allow charter partners -- unit sponsoring organizations -- to determine the standards for their Scout leaders."

Such an approach, he said, would allow churches, which sponsor about 70 percent of Scout units, to establish leadership standards consistent with their faith.

"I truly fear that any other alternative will be the end of us as a national movement," he said.

But some churches may be alienated nonetheless. Some Southern Baptist churches stopped sponsoring troops after gay Scouts were allowed, and letting in gay adults will likely prompt even more departures, said Southern Evangelical Seminary President Richard Land, who formerly led the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

The Human Rights Campaign, the largest U.S. gay-rights group, called Gates' speech "a step in the right direction."

"But, as we have said many times previously, half measures are unacceptable, especially at one of America's most storied institutions," said the campaign's president, Chad Griffin. "It's time for BSA leaders to show true leadership and embrace a full national policy of inclusion."

Debate over the Scouts' policy has coincided with a steady drop in the organization's youth membership, which fell 7.4 percent last year to about 2.4 million.

After the 2013 decision to admit gay youths, some conservatives split from the Boy Scouts of America to form a new group, Trail Life USA, which has created its own ranks, badges and uniforms. The group claims a membership of 23,000 youths and adults.

Trail Life's chairman, John Stemberger, said his organization was "saddened" by Gates' speech.

"It is tragic that the BSA is willing to risk the safety and security of its boys because of peer pressure from activist groups," he said. "Trail Life USA remains committed to timeless Christian values."

Information for this article was contributed by Michelle Price of The Associated Press.

A Section on 05/22/2015

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