Jennifer Tyrrell says she's optimistic
that the Boy Scouts of America will drop its ban on openly gay
membership.
A resolution which would allow
individual charter organizations to decide for themselves whether to
accept openly gay members and leaders has been introduced, Boy Scouts
spokesman Deron Smith confirmed this week in a statement.
Smith, however, stressed that change
was far from imminent: “Contrary to media reports, the Boy Scouts
of America has no plans to change its membership policy. The
introduction of a resolution does not indicate the organization is
'reviewing' a policy or signal a change in direction.”
The move comes after gay rights
activist Zach Wahls delivered a petition signed by 275,000 people
calling on the group to reinstate Tyrrell, 32, who in April was
ousted as den leader of her son's Boy Scout troop because she is a
lesbian. She launched the Change.org campaign to bring awareness to
the Boy Scouts' policy banning openly gay scouts and leaders.
During an appearance on CNN, Tyrrell
said she remained optimistic.
“Just the fact that they are publicly
saying that they are going to review it – whether or not it passes
or not – I think is unprecedented,” Tyrrell said. “I think
that's a huge step.
“We're going to all still keep
pushing. So they don't forget about us,” she added. (Watch
the entire segment at CNN.)