The father of former Boy Scout Ryan
Andresen prays that the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) will end its ban
on openly gay scouts and leaders.
The BSA's national board will consider
ending the ban and allowing local chapters to decide the issue at its
regularly scheduled meeting, which begins Monday.
(Relate: Boy
Scouts mull ending gay ban.)
Last year, Andresen, 18, was denied an
Eagle Scout award after he completed the work needed to earn it
because he is gay. The incident added pressure to the BSA to
reconsider its policy.
In an on-camera interview with the AP,
Eric Andresen, Ryan's father, said he is praying for change.
“I would say 90 percent of the
responses that we received and the comments we've received have all
been positive, incredibly positive,” Eric Andresen said. “There
were scoutmasters out there that were willing to sign Ryan's
application for him. There were councils who said they would put it
through, if Ryan wanted to go that route.”
“He's thrilled that this policy
change would allow so many more scouts to be able to stay in
scouting, to experience the program, and earn their Eagle award or
have the chance to earn their Eagle award without having to hide.”
“I can only pray that BSA does the
right thing next week. And it's only one step in the right
direction, it's not the whole thing yet; BSA needs to end
discrimination across the board,” he added. (The video is embedded
on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
(Related: Obama:
Scouting should be open to gays.)