The Boy Scouts of America (BSA), over 100 years old traditional values organization now accepts girls and LGBT members. It’s believed BSA lost 425,000 members in May 2018, responding to integrating more girls into the organization; give the “Boy Scouts” program a new, gender-neutral name “Scouts BSA” in February 2019. In 2014 BSA lifted their ban on openly gay members, in 2015 allowed openly gay adult scout leaders for the first time, and in 2017 allowed transgender boys to join for the first time. October 2017 brought development…allowing girls to join the Cub Scouts and new program for older girls in 2019; eventually allow them to attain the rank of Eagle Scout. BSA already had programs that welcomed older boys and girls. The Eagle Scout was not yet open to young women. Days later, BSA and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon Church) jointly announced that the church would be ending their longstanding partnership with BSA..January 2020, which prompted one right-wing web site to link the BSA’s recent moves towards gender and LGBT inclusivity with the Mormon Church’s decision to cut ties with scouting. 9 May 2018, the Conservative Tribune (Western Journal) reported (video)..One week after the century-old Boy Scouts of America announced changing its name and its mission to accept girls at all levels of scouting, its single biggest participant announced that it was cutting ties to the Scouts, taking one fifth of the organization’s membership, but rather the name of the well-known “Boy Scouts” program (for 11-18 year-olds) to the gender-neutral “Scouts BSA.” In a press release, Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh said that “Starting in February 2019, the name of the older youth program…‘Scouts BSA,’ and the name of our iconic organization will continue to be Boy Scouts of America.” The Church hasn’t clarified whether greater inclusivity, the integration of girls and the name change to “Scouts BSA” Church leaders have in recent years greeted successive BSA announcements about inclusion of gay, transgender and female members with obvious unease and caution. The Mormon Church accepts openly gay and lesbian individuals as members and leaders, if they remain celibate. Their website notes: “Sexual relations between a man and woman who are not married, or between people of the same sex, violate one of our Father in Heaven’s most important laws and get in the way of our eternal progress.” [Committed Christians adhere to conservative standards.] Given the Mormon church’s teachings on LGBT issues and separate roles of men and woman, as well as their uneasy responses to Boy Scout announcements on inclusion, it’s considered plausible that the BSA’s announcements might have played a role in the Church’s decision to cut ties. Background content contributed to: Fact Checker: Dan MacGuill, 5/10/18. Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh; The Conservative Tribune; (Western Journal) Jeanette Grattan Parker, Ph.D. Superintendent/Founder [email protected] Today’s Fresh Start Charter School www.todaysfreshstart.org; 323-293-9826 4514 Crenshaw BL. LA, CA 90043