The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) on
Wednesday announced it was delaying a much-anticipated decision on
whether to end its national ban on gay scouts and leaders.
The BSA was considering a proposal
which would allow local chapters to decide the issue.
Instead, leaders meeting in Dallas,
Texas announced they needed more time and greater input to study the
issue.
“For 103 years, the Boy Scouts of
America has been a part of the fabric of this nation, providing its
youth program of character development and values-based leadership
training,” the national board wrote in a statement. “In the past
two weeks, Scouting has received an outpouring of feedback from the
American public. It reinforces how deeply people care about Scouting
and how passionate they are about the organization.”
“After careful consideration and
extensive dialogue within the Scouting family, along with comments
from those outside the organization, the volunteer officers of the
Boy Scouts of America's National Executive Board concluded that due
to the complexity of this issue, the organization needs time for a
more deliberate review of its membership policy.”
“To that end, the executive board
directed its committees to further engage representatives of
Scouting's membership and listen to their perspectives and concerns.
This will assist the officers' work on a resolution on membership
standards. The approximately 1,400 voting members of the national
council will take action on the resolution at the national meeting in
May 2013.”