World Net Daily is reporting on the vote which took place at the BSA national conference in Grapevine, Texas. Approximately 1,400 Boy Scout leaders from across the nation participated in the secret vote to change the policy that will take effect on January 1, 2014.
"Today, following this review, the most comprehensive listening exercise in Scouting's history the approximate 1,400 voting members of the Boy Scouts of America's National Council approved a resolution to remove the restriction denying membership to youth on the basis of sexual orientation alone," said the BSA in a statement issued after the vote.
"The resolution also reinforces that Scouting is a youth program, and any sexual conduct, whether heterosexual or homosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting. A change to the current membership policy for adult leaders was not under consideration; thus, the policy for adults remains in place."
Homosexual activist groups are hailing the vote, calling it a step in the right direction, although they claim to want the ban on gay scout leaders lifted as well.
Critics say the new policy means the abandonment of values that the BSA has fought to preserve for 103 years.
“Sadly, the Boy Scouts’ legacy of producing great leaders has become yet another casualty of moral compromise,” said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.
“Unfortunately, Boy Scout delegates capitulated to strong-arm tactics and abandoned the timeless values that have served the organization well for more than 100 years.”
Perkins said the delegates “succumbed to a concerted and manipulative effort by the national BSA leadership despite the BSA’s own survey showing 61 percent of its members in opposition to changing the policy.”
OnMyHonor.net, a coalition of parents, scoutmasters, Eagle Scouts and other scouting leaders who oppose the policy change were deeply disappointed in the actions of the BSA leadership.
"It is with great sadness and deep disappointment that we recognize on this day that the most influential youth program in America has turned a tragic corner,” the group said in a prepared statement. “The vote today to allow open and avowed homosexuality into Scouting will completely transform it into an unprincipled and risky proposition for parents. It is truly a sad day for Scouting.”
They went on to say that the saddest part of the decision is what this is teaching children and young people.
"The BSA is teaching our kids that when your values become unpopular, just change them.
"The BSA is teaching our kids that when your convictions are challenged, just cave to peer pressure.
"The BSA is teaching our kids that public opinion polls are more important than principles.
"Today, the BSA is teaching our kids that you should not stand up for what is right instead you should stand up for what is popular."
OnMyHonor.Net founder John Stemberger says a change in the membership policy will “gut a major percentage of human capital in the BSA and utterly devastate the program financially, socially and legally.”
Stemberger claims internal estimates project a $44 million drop in revenue as a result of the policy change. The BSA's own surveys indicate that tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of parents, scoutmasters and scouts will leave the program now that the policy has changed.
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