Greetings,
After three weeks of holding our collective breath, Scouting America and the Pentagon have made separate statements announcing a series of changes to the organization and its values.
Scouting America announced the creation of a merit badge focused on military service and veterans. In the same announcement, they reaffirmed their partnership with the U.S. military and acknowledged the role that Scouting plays as a pipeline into the uniformed services. Most importantly, the organization assured that female Scouts are here to stay. However, it’s what was left out of that statement that is most concerning.
In a separate announcement on X.com, Secretary Hegseth announced the following: discontinuation of the Citizenship in the Society Merit Badge and waiver of registration fees for the children of military personnel. More significantly, he also announced the erasure of support for transgender Scouts and the removal of all “politicized, divisive, and discriminatory language” across Scouting America’s programming.
What that means remains to be seen, but military leadership have provided no reason to believe that it will be anything good. Want proof? Hegseth concluded his announcement by stating that "I believe the Boy Scouts should go back to being the Boy Scouts as originally founded: a group that develops boys into men."
This petition was started with a fundamental belief that Scouting is a program which universally benefits all who participate, regardless of their sex, gender, orientation, religion, background, or beliefs. First and foremost, Scouting America exists to instill qualities of leadership, service, and progress into every young American. This remains the mission of this petition and we therefore reaffirm our demands to the National Executive Board:
- Reject any agreement with the Department of Defense that restricts membership in Scouting, whether implicitly or explicitly.
- Commit to continuing their policy of endorsing LGBTQ+ and female members of Scouting, both as Scouts and in leadership.
- Reaffirm Scouting America's commitment to the core values of the Scout Law, Oath, Motto, and Slogan.
If you believe in this too, help lend your voice. Spread this petition, share the news with your Packs and Troops, and help tell Nationals that every young American deserves a place in Scouting. A Scout is Friendly and A Scout is Brave.