Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Obama opposes Boy Scouts' policy banning gays

Courtesy of GLAAD

Jennifer Tyrrell, right, addresses the media with her partner after delivering 300,000 signatures to the Boy Scouts of America headquarters in Dallas, Tex., on July 18. Activists stepped up their campaign to change the policy after Tyrrell was removed from her post as den leader of her son's Tiger Cubs' pack.

By Miranda Leitsinger, NBC News

President Barack Obama opposes a controversial Boy Scouts' policy banning gay Scouts and leaders, the White House said Wednesday.

White House spokesman Shin Inouye said in a statement that Obama believes the Boy Scouts of America, a private organization, has helped to educate and build character in boys. “He also opposes discrimination in all forms, and as such opposes this policy that discriminates on basis of sexual orientation,” according to the statement, which was first reported by the Washington Blade.


The comments come three weeks after the Boy Scouts said it would keep the policy following a nearly two-year confidential review that began in 2010. 

“While a majority of our membership agrees with our policy, we fully understand no single policy will accommodate the many diverse views among our membership or society,” BSA spokesman Deron Smith said in an email to NBC News last week. 

The organization has no plans to revisit the policy, he said.

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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's is also opposed to the policy. In 1994, he addressed it in a debate, and a Romney spokeswoman recently confirmed that this was still his position, The Associated Press reported.

"I support the right of the Boy Scouts of America to decide what it wants to do on that issue. I feel that all people should be able to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation," he said.

Activist groups in recent months have stepped up their campaign to end the membership policy banning gays after Jennifer Tyrrell, den leader of her son’s Tiger Cub pack in Bridgeport, Ohio, was removed from her post in April because she is a lesbian.

Tyrrell started an online petition calling for an end to the ban. In May, Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scout who is the son of a lesbian couple, delivered some of the signatures to the Boy Scouts. Tyrrell did the same in early July.

After the Boy Scouts announced they were keeping the policy, dozens of Eagle Scouts said in an online postings that they had returned their badges, medals and other regalia to the organization in protest of the policy. 

If you are a current or former member of the Boy Scouts and would like to share your thoughts on the membership policy, you can email the reporter at miranda.leitsinger@msnbc.com

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