Boy Scouts

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Gay-Friendly Boy Scouts Alternative Growing Quickly

Navigators doubles its membership in about a year

(Newser) - The Navigators is a tiny group compared to the Boy Scouts, but Mother Jones reports that its gay-tolerant creed has helped it more than double its chapters to 45 in about a year. A former Boy Scout troop leader in Harlem formed the Navigators in 2003, fed up with the...

Boy Scouts Proposal: Allow Gay Scouts, Not Leaders

Proposal must still be voted on

(Newser) - It looks like the Boy Scouts of America may be ready to end its ban on openly gay scouts, but not on gay leaders. The organization today proposed doing away with the longstanding and controversial ban, which would mean that in the future, "no youth may be denied membership...

California Democrats Want Scouts to Pay for Gay Stance

Lawmakers push bill that could revoke group's tax-exempt status

(Newser) - California Democrats are out to make the Boy Scouts pay for their refusal to accept openly gay members. The state's Senate Governance and Finance Committee passed a bill yesterday revoking tax-exempt status from any nonprofit that discriminates based on sexual orientation, gender, or religious affiliation, the LA Times reports....

Boy Scouts Takes Poll, Asks About Bunking With Gays

Survey goes out to 1.1M scouts

(Newser) - As the Boy Scouts of America continues to wrestle with the question of whether to admit gay members and leaders, it's decided to take members' opinions into account. Some 1.1M scouts and their families received surveys recently, with questions like:
  • Should gay scouts be allowed to share tents
...

Boy Scouts Unveil Game-Design Merit Badge

Board games, card games, and even smartphone apps are possible

(Newser) - When you think of the Boy Scouts, you probably imagine kids doing rugged, outdoor activities. But Scouts can earn merit badges in all manner of esoteric fields, and today the organization unveiled the latest, and one of the quirkiest: game design. The badge, developed over the past two years with...

Carly Rae Jepsen, Train Cancel on Anti-Gay Boy Scouts

Both cite ban on gay scouts as their reason

(Newser) - Less than a month after the Boy Scouts declined to make a decision on its gay scout ban , some serious fallout: Train and Carly Rae Jepsen, both of whom were touted as headliners at the National Scout Jamboree in July, have bowed out of their concerts. Train did so Friday,...

Boy Scouts Punt on Decision on Gays

Won't decide the dicey issue until May

(Newser) - The Boy Scouts of America's national executive board has delayed a decision on whether to lift its longstanding ban on gay scouts and leaders. The BSA today said the organization will instead take action on the resolution at its national meeting in May. The Scouts said last week that...

UPS Yanks Funding From Boy Scouts

Ends grants over BSA's discrimination against gays

(Newser) - The philanthropic arm of shipping giant UPS said it will no longer give money to the Boy Scouts of America as long as the group discriminates against gays, joining Intel as the second major corporation to recently strip funding from the scouts. The UPS Foundation made the change after an...

Boy Scouts to Review 50 Years of Sex Abuse Files

Any undisclosed cases will be shown to police, says group

(Newser) - With about 5,000 allegations of sexual abuse on file since the 1950s, the Boy Scouts of America announced it would review its confidential files and notify law enforcement officials about any sexual predators it had not yet disclosed, reports the Los Angeles Times . The announcement comes less than two...

Scouts Stone Rabid Beaver to Death

Scoutmaster bitten 6 times in river attack

(Newser) - If they handed out merit badges for bravery during a beaver attack, the boys of Troop 32 would be first in line. One of the leaders of the upstate New York troop was swimming in the Delaware River when he was attacked by the rabid animal. "It came through...

Obama Comes Out Against Boy Scouts' Ban on Gays

But doesn't plan to resign as group's honorary president

(Newser) - When it comes to gays and the Boy Scouts, President Obama and the youth organization he serves as honorary president have agreed to disagree. In an email sent to the AP after three weeks of staying mum on the Scouts' recently reaffirmed policy of excluding gays as members and adult...

Boy Scouts: Ban on Gays Stands

Committee reviewing issue was unanimous in its conclusion

(Newser) - The Boy Scouts isn't budging one inch on its policy of excluding homosexuals from its ranks. The AP reports that the organization today "emphatically reaffirmed" the ban, which applies to both Scouts and leaders. The committee tasked with carrying out the confidential two-year review "came to the...

Eagle Scout With 2 Moms Challenging Anti-Gay Policy

Zach Wahls to present petition in support of lesbian den leader

(Newser) - Supporters of an ousted lesbian Cub Scout den leader plan to challenge the Boy Scouts of America's ban on openly gay members at the organization's annual conference today. A petition signed by more than 280,000 people will be presented to Boy Scout leadership by supporters including Zach...

Boy Scouts Boot Lesbian Den Leader

Jennifer Tyrrell launches petition for policy shift

(Newser) - Earlier this month, a Cub Scout den leader and mom was removed from her post because she's gay. Now she has launched a campaign to change the organization's policy. When Jennifer Tyrrell became a leader in Bridgeport, Ohio, she was aware of the Boy Scouts' rules against openly-homosexual...

Boy Scouts Ordered to Turn Over Sex Abuse Files

Family accuses Scouts of cover-up

(Newser) - The Boy Scouts of America has been ordered to turn over 20 years of files that allegedly show that the organization covered up sexual abuse and protected pedophiles. A judge overseeing a lawsuit brought by the family of a boy molested by a Scout leader has told the Scouts to...

Boy Scouts Refused to Report Serial Rapist

Scout leader bounced back and forth from BC to California

(Newser) - Boy Scout officials in Southern California failed to report a child-molesting Scout leader who went on to rape children in Canada, the Los Angeles Times reports. Former Scout leader Rick Turley starting molesting Scouts in British Columbia in the 1970s. He even kidnapped one, served time, and re-enlisted as a...

Scout Leader, 76, Stabbed to Death on Hiking Trip

Shane Golitko, 22, busted in Indiana attack

(Newser) - A 76-year-old Boy Scout leader has died after being stabbed in the neck yesterday while taking another adult and two boys on a hike, reports AP . Police busted Shane Golitko, a 22-year-old man who lives close to the Indiana hiking trail where the unprovoked attack occurred. Golitko's mother called...

Family Sues Boy Scouts Over Son's Hiking Death

Parents say negligence to blame for teen's death

(Newser) - A Florida couple whose 17-year-old son collapsed and died on a 20-mile hike in extreme heat are suing the Boy Scouts, and there's more than just money on the line. The lawsuit charges that the organization failed to live up to its own "Be Prepared" motto and that this...

Stewart Trashes Media's Reaction to Obama on View

'Nothing Obama does will ever make you f---ing happy'

(Newser) - Jon Stewart has a question for right-wing pundits outraged over President Obama's appearance on The View: "Do you idiots have any short-term memory at all?" If The View is somehow beneath the office of president, Stewart asked last night on the Daily Show , how about George and Laura Bush's...

Boy Scouts Create Merit Pin—for Video Games

There's also a belt loop

(Newser) - Because nothing screams “scout” like beating Ratchet & Clank, the rugged outdoorsmen in the Boy Scouts of America are now offering video game merit awards. Scouts can win a merit belt loop (yes, belt loop), by learning to play an age-appropriate, parent-approved video game—and doing some other goody...

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