Channel Change-Up: Scouting News > Boy Scouts of America

Update on Adult Leadership Standards

July 13, 2015 by Newsroom Blog

Please see update from Wednesday 15 July 2015 with "a little wiggle room"  . . . keep in mind the Bill of Rights is still for everyone with a separation of Church & State

That's the balanced news from the official Boy Scouts of America newsroom. Then here on MesaZona an excerpt from The Mormon News Report . . . other media news outlets get onboard

Boy Scouts of America Executive Committee adopted a resolution amending the adult leadership standards policy. The resolution was unanimously adopted by those present and voting . . . This resolution will allow chartered organizations to select adult leaders without regard to sexual orientation, continuing Scouting’s longstanding policy of chartered organizations selecting their leaders. The National Executive Board will meet to ratify this resolution on Monday, July 27
http://scoutingnewsroom.org/blog/update-on-adult-leadership-standards/.

To the Left an old poster with Bill of Rights From Mormon News: Yesterday, the executive committee of the Boy Scouts of America unanimously approved a resolution that would end the organization's "blanket ban on gay adult leaders and let individual Scout units set their own policy on the long-divisive issue," according to a report by the Associated Press (via ABC News). Buzzfeed received a copy of the memorandum sent to regional and area Boy Scout leaders, which included more details about the individually chartered troops: "No local council may refuse to process or approve a charter application or in any way limit the participation of a Scouting unit based on the chartered organization's exercise of its right to select adult leaders as provided in this resolution."

Image from Mormon News

Obviously, with the huge LDS influence on the Boy Scouts of America, many were waiting for the LDS Church's response to the resolution - and respond they did.
Mormon Newsroom has the release, which reads “As a chartering organization, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has always had the right to select Scout leaders who adhere to moral and religious principles that are consistent with our doctrines and beliefs. Any resolution adopted by the Boy Scouts of America regarding leadership in Scouting must continue to affirm that right.”
Mormon News Report 14 July 2015

Update from Wednesday 15 July [Italics for emphasis]
We're getting more news behind the details on the decision by the Boy Scouts of America to possibly end the ban on gay adult leaders within the organization. David Crary of the AP (via the Salt Lake Tribune) writes "The BSA's executive committee unanimously approved a resolution that would let individual Scout units set their own policies on the long-divisive issue. So church-sponsored units opposed to the change could maintain the prohibition. "This is a compromise the LDS Church will be able to live with happily," said Kendall Wilcox, a gay Mormon and a member of the interfaith committee of Scouts for Equality that has been pushing for reforms. "This is good for all of us."" On Monday, the BSA said the resolution was approved Friday by the 17-member executive committee and would become official policy if ratified by the organization's 80-member National Executive Board at a meeting July 27. The National Executive Board includes two high-level Mormon officials: apostle Jeffrey R. Holland and LDS Young Men President Stephen W. Owen. The resolution allows local Scout units the ability to select adult leaders without regard for sexual orientation, while also allowing units to continue the ban. According to the BSA statement "This change allows Scouting's members and parents to select local units, chartered to organizations with similar beliefs, that best meet the needs of their families...This change would also respect the right of religious-chartered organizations to continue to choose adult leaders whose beliefs are consistent with their own."