• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Film/TV/Stream
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Tech/Science
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox
  • Strippers bid to unionize in Los Angeles
  • Giuliani testifies in Georgia criminal probe into 2020 U.S. election
  • U.S. prosecutors subpoena files given to Capitol attack committee -NYT

Boy Scouts Leader Robert Gates Calls for End to Ban on Gay Adults: READ

Kyler Geoffroy May 21, 2015

In remarks prepared for a meeting of Boy Scouts of America leadership today, BSA president and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates called on the organization to drop its ban on gay adult leaders, Buzzfeed reports:

GatesGates was at the helm of the Pentagon at the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and is now leading the Boy Scouts as it addresses its ban on gay members. In 2013, the scouts ended its ban on gay youth members but maintained its ban on gay adult leaders.

According to his prepared remarks, Gates said that “events during the past year have confronted us with urgent challenges I did not foresee and which we cannot ignore.” 

Gates stated that the BSA must acknowledge that local councils are already "in open defiance" of the ban, citing the Greater New York Council as an example. Last month, the council hired openly gay 18-year-old Pascal Tessier to serve as a leader at its scout camp this summer. 

Gates continued:

BsaNor can we ignore the social, political and juridicial changes taking place in our country – changes taking place at a pace over this past year no one anticipated. 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. 

I am not asking the national board for any action to change our current policy at this meeting. But I must speak as plainly and bluntly to you as I spoke to presidents when I was director of CIA and Secretary of Defense. We must deal with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be. The status quo in our movement's membership standards cannot be sustained.

We can expect more councils to openly challenge the current policy. While technically we have the authority to revoke their charters, such an action would deny the lifelong benefits of scouting to hundreds of thousands of boys and young men today and vastly more in the future. I will not take that path.  

Read Gates full remarks, AFTER THE JUMP…

Zach Wahls, executive director of Scouts for Equality, reacted positively to the news.

“Dr. Gates has built his reputation on straight talk, and I’m glad he’s fully endorsing a re-evaluation of the Boy Scouts’ ban on gay adults,” he said in a statement. “It seems like the Boy Scouts will continue an internal dialogue about the subject and that a full vote within the next year or two is imminent.”

Hearing that Dr. Gates received a standing ovation after delivering his remarks calling for change.

— Zacharia Wahls (@ZachWahls) May 21, 2015 

Developing…

 

Topics: News, Supreme Court, World More Posts About: Boy Scouts, Boy Scouts, News, Robert Gates

Related Posts
  • Russia Blocks Facebook, Accusing it of Restricting Access to Russian Media;
  • Duran Duran Has New Music And You Are About To Enjoy it. It’s 2021. Seriously.
  • ‘Mayor Pete’ Trailer; Papa Pete Pwns Tucker; 4-Stars for Dr. Rachel Levine; JoJo Siwa’s Perfect 10s; Lynda Carter’s 8 Wonder-full Words: GOOD NEWS
  • Giuliani testifies in Georgia criminal probe into 2020 U.S. election

    Giuliani testifies in Georgia criminal probe into 2020 U.S. election

    Published by Reuters By Maria Alejandra Cardona ATLANTA (Reuters) -Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s onetime personal lawyer, testified before a special grand jury in Atlanta on Wednesday in a Georgia criminal probe examining attempts by the former …Read More »
  • U.S. prosecutors subpoena files given to Capitol attack committee -NYT

    U.S. prosecutors subpoena files given to Capitol attack committee -NYT

    Published by Reuters (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors examining the role of former President Donald Trump and allies in events ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol have subpoenaed National Archives documents provided …Read More »
  • Florida prosecutor suspended by DeSantis over abortion stance sues to regain job

    Florida prosecutor suspended by DeSantis over abortion stance sues to regain job

    Published by Reuters By David Thomas (Reuters) – A Florida state attorney on Wednesday sued Governor Ron DeSantis after he was suspended earlier this month for saying he would not prosecute anyone who sought or provided …Read More »
  • Once hated by the left, FBI is now US conservatives’ evil demon

    Once hated by the left, FBI is now US conservatives’ evil demon

    Published by AFP The Federal Bureau of Investigation seal at the bureau's headquarters, the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building, in Washington Washington (AFP) – Agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation are used to criticism, …Read More »
Previous Post: « Meet Ireland’s Heterophobic Cab Driver: VIDEO
Next Post: The OXD Mirror: Welcome Summer with Tropical House Tunes and the Return of The Magician »

Primary Sidebar

Adjacent News

  • Biden signs $430 billion climate, healthcare and tax bill

    Biden signs $430 billion climate, healthcare and tax bill

  • Judge schedules Thursday hearing on motion to unseal Trump search warrant materials

    Judge schedules Thursday hearing on motion to unseal Trump search warrant materials

  • Dr. Oz Loses $5 Million Of GOP Campaign Funding In Pennsylvania As His Poll Numbers Continue To Plummet

    Dr. Oz Loses $5 Million Of GOP Campaign Funding In Pennsylvania As His Poll Numbers Continue To Plummet

Good Trash: Going to Read It Somewhere, Y’know

  • ‘It’s Good To Be Loved!’ Ellen DeGeneres Celebrates Anniversary With Portia de Rossi After It’s Revealed She Won’t Be Invited To Ex Anne Heche’s Funeral

    ‘It’s Good To Be Loved!’ Ellen DeGeneres Celebrates Anniversary With Portia de Rossi After It’s Revealed She Won’t Be Invited To Ex Anne Heche’s Funeral

  • New Handwritten Notes & Letter Reveal Princess Diana Predicted She May Be Killed In A ‘Staged Car Accident’

    New Handwritten Notes & Letter Reveal Princess Diana Predicted She May Be Killed In A ‘Staged Car Accident’

  • ‘I Want To Release These Voice Recordings So Bad’: NeNe Leakes Tears Into Andy Cohen As Discrimination Lawsuit Turns Nasty

    ‘I Want To Release These Voice Recordings So Bad’: NeNe Leakes Tears Into Andy Cohen As Discrimination Lawsuit Turns Nasty

RSS Partner Links

  • GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics announces winners of its 14th Dorian TV Awards
  • See Luke Evans’ beach workout!
  • Coldplay's 'Humankind' Music Video Was Filmed at Their Mexico City Concerts - Watch!
  • “Rep. Liz Cheney lost her primary to a Donald Trump fanatic” links
  • People: The Cambridges still haven’t moved into Adelaide Cottage
  • Eiza Gonzalez Didn't Let a Foot Injury Stop Her From Attending the Day of Indulgence Party!
  • Jonah Hill Reveals He Will Not Promote His Films Anymore - Here's Why

Most Recent

  • Strippers bid to unionize in Los Angeles

    Strippers bid to unionize in Los Angeles

  • Giuliani testifies in Georgia criminal probe into 2020 U.S. election

    Giuliani testifies in Georgia criminal probe into 2020 U.S. election

  • U.S. prosecutors subpoena files given to Capitol attack committee -NYT

    U.S. prosecutors subpoena files given to Capitol attack committee -NYT

  • Florida prosecutor suspended by DeSantis over abortion stance sues to regain job

    Florida prosecutor suspended by DeSantis over abortion stance sues to regain job

  • Once hated by the left, FBI is now US conservatives’ evil demon

    Once hated by the left, FBI is now US conservatives’ evil demon

  • Proud Boy files to run for a Sacramento-area school board. The GOP isn’t supporting him

    Proud Boy files to run for a Sacramento-area school board. The GOP isn’t supporting him

  • Stanford monkeypox case not sex-related, raising questions about transmission

    Stanford monkeypox case not sex-related, raising questions about transmission

  • Chicago police investigating whether racist and anti-gay posts on 4chan came from real officer

    Chicago police investigating whether racist and anti-gay posts on 4chan came from real officer

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd

Footer

Copyright © 2022 · Log in

×