Eagle Scout Zach Wahls: Boy Scouts' reported compromise on gay members 'a huge change'

• Boy Scouts consider an end to the organization's ban on gay scouts, troop leaders

BY STEVE ROTHAUS, srothaus@MiamiHerald.com

Eagle Scout Zach Wahls, the son of two lesbians who has actively lobbied to end the Boy Scouts' gay ban, said reports Monday that BSA may change its policy "is a huge change from where we were seven months ago, when the Boy Scouts of America stressed this ban wasn't going away."

"I'm not surprised, actually," Wahls, 21, told The Miami Herald on Monday. "The reality is that local chapters all across the country have been asking to end this policy."

If the new policy is accepted by the Boy Scouts' board of directors, local organizations would be able to decide whether or not to admit gay scouts, NBC News reports.

Wahls predicts that after some troops begin accepting gay scouts and leaders, others will quickly follow.

"Once you’ve started to introduce openly gay members, there’s no way to stop it," said Wahls, author of the book My Two Moms. "Eventually, it will become a non-issue."

Last May, Wahls delivered more than 275,000 Change.org petitions to BSA, demanding that the group end its gay ban.

Comments

[Dean]

Why on earth would any adult male want to be a scout leader when he doesn't have any kids in scouting? This opens the door to pedophiles.