Jennifer Tyrrell has said she was
“moved” by the resignation of Boy Scouts board member David Sims
in protest of her recent ouster.
The 32-year-old Ohio mother has
launched a Change.org
campaign to bring awareness to the Boy Scouts' policy banning openly
gay scouts and leaders after she was removed
from her volunteer position because she failed to meet the
group's “high standards of conduct” in relation to her being in a
5 year relationship with another woman.
On Friday, Sims, a board member of the
Ohio River Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America, resigned in
support of Tyrrell.
“Yesterday, after receiving the email
from Paul Tucker, I first learned the story of Jennifer Tyrrell, the
den leader for Pack 109's Tiger Scouts in Bridgeport, Ohio, who was
removed as leader solely due to her sexual orientation. I understand
that this action was taken as a result of a standing policy of the
Boy Scouts of America and that said action is legal. However, Ms.
Tyrrell's removal goes against my fundamental beliefs of how we
should treat our fellow human beings and is, in my opinion, wholly
discriminatory. I understand that the Boys Scouts of America is free
to run its organization as it sees fit, however, I can not formally
be a part of it based upon this policy,” Sims
wrote in his resignation letter.
Appearing on cabler HLN's Dr. Drew,
Tyrrell said she was “moved” by the show of support.
“I was very moved by that,” she
told host Dr. Drew. “I actually got a chance to read the letter.
And I would like to thank him personally. Thank you Mr. Sims, that
means a lot to me. He's an Eagle Scout, his father was an Eagle
Scout, his grandfather was an Eagle Scout, he served on the board.
And he resigned because he says that he doesn't want his fellow
mankind to be treated this way. So that's amazing.” (The video is
embedded in the right panel of this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
(Related: Mitt
Romney once agreed with ousted scouts leader Jennifer Tyrrell.)