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Gay scouts deliver 1.4 million signatures to Boy Scouts headquarters demanding end to gay ban

Should Boy Scouts accept gay members? Tell us what you think http://bit.ly/VFlaED

News release from Change.org and GLAAD:

  • Gay former den leader, gay former Scoutmaster, gay Eagle Scout, and father of gay Scout denied his Eagle Award delivered 1.4 million signatures from their combined Change.org petitions.
  • Petition delivery occurs as Boy Scouts Board holds historic vote on ending ban on gay Scouts and leaders.

DALLAS, TX – Four Scout leaders whose petitions on Change.org sparked a national movement to end the Boy Scouts’ anti-gay ban delivered more than 1.4 million petition signatures to Boy Scouts headquarters today as the organization’s Board of Directors began a three-day meeting to discuss overturning the policy.

The petitions were delivered by Jennifer Tyrrell, a gay mom removed from her position as den leader of her 8-year-old son’s Cub Scout pack; Greg Bourke, a gay dad who was forced to resign his position of assistant scoutmaster; Eric Andresen, the father of an 18-year-old gay Boy Scout who was barred from receiving his Eagle Award; and Will Oliver, a 20-year-old gay Eagle Scout.

Says Tyrrell, who launched her Change.org petition in April 2012 with support from GLAAD: “Today, I’m helping deliver more than 1.4 million Change.org petition signatures to the Boy Scouts of America, urging the national board to end the ban on gay youth and parents and give me the opportunity to once again serve my son’s Cub Scout Pack. I do not want one more mother or father to have to look their child in the eyes and tell them that their parents aren’t good enough - or are different. The Boy Scouts of America can do better than that.”

Says Bourke, whose partner and children traveled to Dallas with him to deliver signatures from his petition: “After being forced to resign, I received unanimous support from the Boy Scouts in my Troop, the other Troop adult Leaders, the Troop Committee, my pastor and everyone at my church. In the name of fairness, in the name of equality, in the name of God I ask the Executive Board to please end this harmful discrimination now.”

Says Andresen, delivering nearly half a million signatures from his family’s petition: “I want to tell the BSA that my son Ryan is not inferior and that no parent should ever have to go through delivering devastating news like I had to deliver to my son. I pray that the BSA national board starts to understand this, and acts quickly to make the incredible Scouting journey open to all young men across America.”

Says Oliver, a gay Eagle Scout whose petition called on the National Geographic Channel, a strategic partner of the BSA, to condemn the organization’s anti-gay policy: “We are all invested in the future of Scouting, but its appeal to American families is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain in the shadow of such an extreme stance. The new National Geographic show ‘Are You Tougher Than A Boy Scout?’ is probably not the change the organization needs. It’s time for Boy Scouts to join its peers, the Girl Scouts, Campfire USA, even the U.S. military, in welcoming members regardless of sexual orientation.”

After speaking outside Boy Scouts headquarters today, Tyrrell, Bourke, Andresen, and Oliver hand-delivered the petition signatures to a BSA representative.

Brad Hankins, campaign director for Scouts for Equality, said the people in Dallas today, as well as thousands of Scouts alumni and current Scouts around the country, are calling for an inclusive national organization.

Says Hankins: "In seven months, we've built an organization comprised of thousands of alumni Eagle Scouts, as well as current Scouts and Scoutmasters, who are all very concerned about the future health of an organization we cherish -- the Boy Scouts of America. We believe that this policy change must be enacted as a mitigated solution toward the final goal of ending discrimination throughout all of Scouting, lest the program be isolated on the fringe of our society. As America embraces universal equality, so should the Boy Scouts of America."

Says Mark Anthony Dingbaum, senior campaign manager at Change.org: “Today’s delivery marks one final push by the more than 1.4 million people who’ve taken action on Change.org demanding an end to the Boy Scout’s national ban on gay youth and parents. Through cutting-edge technology and powerful storytelling, Jennifer, Greg, Eric, and Will mobilized millions and stand at an historic moment where their work could undo years of discrimination.”

Says GLAAD President Herndon Graddick: “The Boy Scouts of America have heard from scouts, corporations and millions of Americans that banning gay scouts and scout leaders is wrong. The BSA will continue to hear from these advocates until discrimination against dedicated gay scouts is a thing of the past. Scouting is a valuable institution and this change will only strengthen its core principles of fairness and respect.”

President Obama, in an interview before Sunday night’s Super Bowl, reaffirmed his position that the Boy Scouts of America should end their national ban on gay Scouts and Scout leaders.

Live signature totals from Change.org petitions targeting the Boy Scouts of America: http://www.change.org/boyscouts

Should Boy Scouts accept gay members? Tell us what you think http://bit.ly/VFlaED

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Demanding their way, don't hate gays, but hate the homosexual movement

Why don't they just make their own Gay Scouts of America, and just leave the Boy Scouts alone?

Just be sure when you allow the change to take place you change the scout oath

Between pedophile priests and pedophile Boy Scout leaders, it would seem there should be better things to do than blame the kids. It's the sexual view of so-called "moral leaders" that seems to be the main stumbling block here, not the orientation of the scouts involved. Let's put it this way: if you had a heart attack, would you refuse a transplant because the donor was gay?

Should Boy Scouts accept gay members? Tell us what you think http://bit.ly/VFlaED

I still remember one of my best friends receiving his Eagle Scout honor back around 2000. It is a genuine shame that now he would be disavowed by the Scouts merely because he is a gay man.

The Boy Scout Oath holds that Scouts do their best to obey the Scout Law. To dismiss gay Scouts is to blatantly throw aside those traits of trustworthiness, loyalty, courtesy, kindness, and bravery which Scouts and Scoutmasters swear an oath to uphold.

Should they (BSA) not be allowed to have their own rules and regulations? Of course they should. If anyone has a problem with that, then it is they who should abide by those rules or start their own organization.

Can't the queers leave anyone alone? why do they want to corupt and pervert everything?

It is not that the BSA can't be bigots it's that they shouldn't be bigots.

Bye Bye Boy Scout.

This has turned into outright homosexual harassment. The Boy Scouts should file suit against them for sexual harassment. How many times do you have to say no your not interested or into homosexuality.

Yes, any private organization can make whatever rules it wants......but when they use public facilities, like meeting in public schools that I am paying for, then they forfeit their right to make whatever rules they want.

When will folks learn that there is a huge difference between homosexuality and pedophilia? Homosexuals do not chose their sexual orientation and are not a threat to others. Pedophiles pray on young people of both sexes and impose their own sexuality on them. Pedophilia is criminal behavior. Homosexual(gay) orientation and/or behavior is not. There is no physical or psycological connection between the two behaviors.


Getting homosexual scoutmasters into the Boy Scouts has been on the NABLA agenda since its founding.

Gays should not be denied scout membership nor medals. Why should the issue of sexual preference even come up? By the same token being gay does not entitle you to be a leader. Why is it necessary for a gay person to identify themselves in this manner when applying for Boyscout membership? Is sexual preference one of the questions on the application? Perhaps its time to start a new organization. Everything must run its course, it is the law of entropy and degrade to a point of disorder. I say it is TIME TO SPLIT! Let the Boy Scouts become the BOY scouts and start the Eagle Seekers. Common people quit complaining and seek a higher calling. Use your brains.

Besides all God made male n female an said it was good ,so it is sin to do otherwise if we ignore sin God will let our country b destroyed as is allready going on now,America wake up b 4 we have a disaster beyond repair

Just left the US Army for this very same reason. Many other straight military personal also want out.

What's next, let in the athiests and agnostics? What about letting in girls? These are the values BSA has fought against for decades. I'm tired of being called a bigot, when I'm practicing my religion. I'm tired of someone who knows nothing about what religion I even practice, telling me how wrong my religion is. That's their opinion, not mine.
Well, it sounds like the gays are going to get their way, sort of. BSA is going to let them in because they convinced them their ways are wrong, it's because they are losing finding from some of their donors. And that's the only reason. Sounds like a hollow victory to me.

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