SYRACUSE -- The Longhouse Council, the group who represents the Boy Scouts of America in Cayuga, Onondaga, Jefferson, St. Lawrence and Lewis Counties, released a statement today regarding the call for amendment of the Boy Scouts of America’s membership standards.
The Boy Scouts has a policy banning openly gay people from participation, a policy they reconfirmed last summer.
This has prompted an outcry from the public, and has forced one of America’s most storied clubs to review its policy.
The Longhouse Council issued this statement: ‘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.”
The proposed change in policy would allow local scouting councils, like the Longhouse Council, to make decisions on membership for themselves.
Some say the Boy Scouts fear a departure of conservative sponsors if they change the current admission standards. This move appears to be further evidence of a nation divided on the degree acceptability of certain lifestyle issues.
