Robert Gates, president of the Boy Scouts of America, called for the organization’s ban on gay adult leaders to be lifted this week. Speaking at the Boy Scouts annual meeting, Gates said that it was time for the change to occur to prevent “the end of us as a national movement.”
Fox News reports the ban will not be lifted immediately, but Gates hopes to revise the policy in the near future. However, local chapters will be able to decide individually to allow homosexual leaders in the troops.
Gates became president of the Boy Scouts in May 2014; he said at the time that he wished to end the ban on gay leaders.
In his speech, Gates said, "The status quo in our movement's membership standards cannot be sustained.”
"I remind you of the recent debates we have seen in places like Indiana and Arkansas over discrimination based on sexual orientation, not to mention the impending U.S. Supreme Court decision this summer on gay marriage. We must deal with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be."
Publication date: May 22, 2015
