The new year brings a positive change in the membership practices of the Boy Scouts of America. In May, delegates attending the Boy Scouts' national convention voted to allow openly gay boys to participate in the group's activities. That overdue step toward inclusion went into effect on New Year's Day, a welcome — though incomplete — turn for an organization that until quite recently rejected any change in its discriminatory ways.
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The Boy Scouts' reluctance to embrace gay equality has been painful to watch. The organization has hurt many youngsters and its own reputation as it has remained caught between fears of losing donors repelled by bigotry and of losing partnerships with conservative churches that sponsor a large percentage of local Cub Scout and Boy Scout groups. But while the new membership policy caused some churches to end their sponsorship, no mass exodus has materialized. Mormon and Roman Catholic churches are continuing to participate.
Unfortunately, the organization still refuses to fully renounce discrimination, and will continue to prohibit gay and lesbian adults from serving as troop leaders. This will perpetuate the idea that gays are inferior and that being gay is inconsistent with the Boy Scout values of strong moral character and leadership. It also means that gay youngsters who excel as scouts will be denied the chance to serve as pack or troop leaders when they turn 18.
We have hope that Robert Gates, a former Eagle Scout and former defense secretary slated to begin a two-year term as president of the national organization in May, will agree that the ban on gay troop leaders is unacceptable and see that it is quickly ended. During his time at the Pentagon, Mr. Gates supported President Obama's call to end the unjust "don't ask, don't tell" policy that barred gay men and women from serving openly in the military, a record he should build upon by eradicating similar discrimination in scouting.
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