The national leadership of the Boy Scouts of America has recently announced a proposal to eliminate the policy banning participation based on sexual orientation. The new policy would allow individual groups to operate according to their own values, so that churches sponsoring Scout troops and packs would no longer face the dilemma of supporting an organization that does much good but violates their commitment to equality.
The move was welcomed by two Eagle Scouts who serve the Presbyterian Church (USA), in an article in Unbound: An Interactive Journal of Christian Social Justice, “Two Eagle Scout Ministers Say, Lift the Ban on Gay Scouts.” The Rev. Patrick Heery is Managing Editor of Unbound, and the Rev. Dr. Chris Iosso is the Coordinator of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy. Their article includes an invitation for other Eagle Scouts and people of faith to sign a petition supporting the proposed change.
More information is available from Scouts for Equality.