Washington, D.C. – Today, the Boy Scouts of America will vote on the proposed resolution to change its existing policy regarding homosexuality among its youth members, while maintaining the ban on homosexual leaders. Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America (CWA), responds:
“Concerned Women for America and its over 500,000 members nationwide call on the Boy Scouts of America to hold true to their founding principles and continue to be an organization that leaves sex and politics out of its practices. We delivered 8,209 petitions to BSA leadership today in hopes that they would earn their next badge, “Courage” – courage to stand true to themselves under attack from a well-funded, aggressive minority. Sex and politics do not belong in the Boy Scouts.
“The Supreme Court has already cleared the BSA of having to make any changes to its current policy, proving that this is more about a bully trying to place the BSA in a full nelson to force a policy change than a needed definition adjustment for the purposes of strengthening the organization. The Supreme Court, in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000), decided that the BSA has a constitutionally protected right to its existing membership policy under the First Amendment. The decision was made heavily on the position that (as the Court summarized it) ‘homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the values it seeks to instill.’ The Boy Scouts decide today whether they will change their 102-year-old principles or remain true to their core values and ‘Duty to God.'”