Belron Staff Writer
October 11, 2017 the Boy Scouts announced the end of over a century old policy of exclusively allowing boys to join the organization. Starting in 2018 the boy scouts will start allowing girls to join the boy scouts and will also set up a new program in 2019 allowing older girls to earn the Eagle Scout rank. The smallest unit of the boys scouts, cub scouts, will remain gender specific.
The change comes after a unanimous approval from the boys scouts’ board of directors and follows other major changes including allowing openly gay and transgender scouts to serve in recent years. While the organization plans to allow girls for the first time, there are currently no plans to change the name according to a spokeswoman.
While the move was welcomed by some including National Organization for Women, others including the Girls Scouts of America scorned the move. In a various statements released GSA officials have said the move was caused by in-part the need for more revenue after settling numerous sexaul assualt lawsuits and seeing a decline in memebership. Boy Scout leaders responded saying that the move was done to give more options to parents with multiple children not by a need for revenue.
The change comes after months of meetings and videos discussing the possibility of opening the organization to girls as well as surveys done within the boy scouts which showed strong support. After some parents concerns about overnight camping trips, Chief Scout Executive, Michael Surbaugh said a ban on co-ed overnight camping trips for ages 11-14 will remain in place.