The story is breaking: The ban on openly gay members was removed today by a popular vote of 61%. The ban on gay leaders remains in effect.
We’ll have to see what impact this has on membership.
Warren Cole Smith of World magazine weighs in. An excerpt:
The BSA membership is now made up of more than 2.6 million, with more than 1 million adult leaders and volunteers. Before the vote, the Boy Scouts estimated that as many as 400,000 Scouts and Scouters would leave the organization if the resolution passed. “This decision will result in an enormous loss for the Scouting movement,” Stemberger said.
The Mormon Church, the faith group with the largest number of Scouting units, released a statement saying it would continue working with the BSA.
“Sexual orientation has not previously been—and is not now—a disqualifying factor for boys who want to join Latter-day Saint Scout troops,” the statement said. “Willingness to abide by standards of behavior continues to be our compelling interest.”
But Southern Baptists will likely take different path. Frank Page, a past president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and an Eagle Scout, said he and others in the leadership of the SBC would present a series of resolutions at the denomination’s convention in June.
Read the whole thing.