Several years ago,,, the BSA sent out a survey to enrolled adults,, and members of the Eagle Scout Association. They had a survey for us to fill out. And as most survey's,, the wording could confuse many into checking a certain box vs what they truly THOUGHT they were commenting on.
Part of that survey was about allowing gays,, (leaders & boys) in as well as girls.
After that,, they made a decision to put forth to all BSA Councils,, for a vote on these potential changes at the National meeting.
Now,, many people do not realize the BSA structure. There are "Councils" for all areas of the USA & other countries. In my area,, the local Council is made up of a district of 17 counties within NC. And the more interesting part,, is that EVERY Council is actually an INDIVIDUAL business. They adhere to National standards,, (by agreements) but are actually independent businesses.
At the National meeting,, it was adopted to allow gay boys,, first,, and later on, girls, followed by gay leaders. They try & calm fears by having their "Youth Protection" program. All adults are required to take their Youth Protection course.
It's a JOKE!!!!! About 30 minutes,, doing an online "class" that's STUPIDLY easy to take.
One of the big things they have done for many years is require troops & such to always have "Two Deep Leadership" as well as never allowing any adult to be doing anything with any Scout alone in a one-on-one whatever.
But it's EASY to get around those things. And until a whistle blower comes along,, it can happen.
When the National made these changes,, there was a big segment of the BSA membership that made the announcement that as of a specific date,, (if my memory is correct, it was to be 1/1/2020,) they would be dropping all affiliation with the BSA on their religious beliefs. it was the Mormon Church. This all happened in about 2018.
By waiting until 2020,, it was to allow any boys currently in the BSA and wanting to work to get their Eagle,, the time to do so. Plus,, that would also give the Mormon Church time to develop their own Youth Program.
The Mormon Church membership was approximately 1/5th of all BSA membership.
Knowing that they would be losing a LOT of revenue when they left,, National made "changes" in 2019 to registration for adults, AND the "fees" required to be paid to be a member of the BSA.
As an adult,, they wanted me & all other adults to "re-register" AND sign a "personal information release" for them to have an outside company do a background check on all registered adults. Upon reading the release,, and how much privacy I would be signing away,, combined with the HUGE increase in all fees,, I made a very saddening decision. I chose to not renew my membership. As of October 2019,, I celebrated 50 continuous years as a member of my home Troop. So, after 50 years & 2 months,, I retired from the BSA on 12/31/2019.
My home troop,, was once the largest in the entire eastern USA. For a several years in the mid & late 1960's,, we had over 150 boys enrolled AND active in the Troop annually.
Now,, my home Troop has fewer than 15 boys. Before the "changes" we were in the ball park of 40 boys registered annually, AND a pretty good number of adults as volunteers.
The local Council used to make jokes about us. They'd say; "There's Daniel Boone Council, then there's that Troop 605 from Edneyville.
We had enough boys to where we held our own Troop Annual Camporee. And we'd have a LARGE group attend the district Camporee annually.
We,, along with so many other troops now struggle to even have anything. The BSA is a hollow shell of what it used to be.
But the biggest slap in the face was when, back in the 1980's,, the BSA was sued by a gay man, who'd earned his Eagle,, and wanted to be an adult leader. He was denied by the BSA. It went to the US Supreme Court. I even donated money to help fund the huge legal battle. The BSA won,, with the Supreme Court saying; "The BSA is a private organization, and can set membership criteria." And the powers in charge from about 2010 and since,, have done a complete reversal.
Now,, the BSA is gone.
