Today the Boy Scouts of America announced that they would begin allowing girls to enroll as Boy Scouts and as Cub Scouts. But this new policy doesn’t allow all girls to enroll—only those who are willing to say that they are a boy on their Scouting application. Here’s the text of the statement released earlier today:
As one of America’s largest youth-serving organizations, the Boy Scouts of America continues to work to bring the benefits of our programs to as many children, families and communities as possible.
While we offer a number of programs that serve all youth, Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting are specifically designed to meet the needs of boys. For more than 100 years, the Boy Scouts of America, along with schools, youth sports and other youth organizations, have ultimately deferred to the information on an individual’s birth certificate to determine eligibility for our single-gender programs. However, that approach is no longer sufficient as communities and state laws are interpreting gender identity differently, and these laws vary widely from state to state.
Starting today, we will accept and register youth in the Cub and Boy Scout programs based on the gender identity indicated on the application. Our organization’s local councils will help find units that can provide for the best interest of the child.
The Boy Scouts of America is committed to identifying program options that will help us truly serve the whole family, and this is an area that we will continue to thoughtfully evaluate to bring the benefits of Scouting to the greatest number of youth possible – all while remaining true to our core values, outlined in the Scout Oath and Law.
Two observations about this statement:
1. An 8-year old girl recently sued The Boy Scouts of America for discrimination after she was kicked out of her scouting group. She had identified as a boy on her application. But the troop subsequently told her that she wasn’t eligible because the gender on her application did not match the sex listed on her birth certificate. The suit against New Jersey Boy Scouts claims that the Boy Scouts “violated the state’s law against discrimination.” State laws like the one in New Jersey are precisely what this BSA statement cites as its rationale for this decision. Because these laws are on the books, the BSA would be exposed to lawsuits in every state that has a SOGI law in the books (for more on SOGI laws, read this). Rather than fighting these lawsuits, the BSA has apparently decided to capitulate. Given the fact that the BSA has already succumbed to pressure to allow gay Scouts and gay Scouting leaders, it is no surprise that they have succumbed on this issue as well.
2. The statement says that “Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting are specifically designed to meet the needs of boys.” This new policy, however, is just one more way in which the BSA will fail to “meet the needs of boys” (and girls, for that matter). Until now, the BSA has used the sex listed on the birth certificate to determine who was a boy and who wasn’t. But now the BSA is saying that this is no longer sufficient for distinguishing male from female. That means that the BSA is saying that biology no longer matters in distinguishing male and female. This is an enormous concession to radical gender ideology, and it is not something that will help children. Last year, the American College of Pediatricians released a statement contending that “Gender Ideology Harms Children.” Among other things, the statement says this:
A person’s belief that he or she is something they are not is, at best, a sign of confused thinking. When an otherwise healthy biological boy believes he is a girl, or an otherwise healthy biological girl believes she is a boy, an objective psychological problem exists that lies in the mind not the body, and it should be treated as such…
Conditioning children into believing a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse. Endorsing gender discordance as normal via public education and legal policies will confuse children and parents, leading more children to present to “gender clinics” where they will be given puberty-blocking drugs. This, in turn, virtually ensures they will “choose” a lifetime of carcinogenic and otherwise toxic cross-sex hormones, and likely consider unnecessary surgical mutilation of their healthy body parts as young adults.
When a child embraces a psychological identity at odds with his bodily identity, this is not healthy or good for that child. And it only adds insult to injury for adults to accommodate this harmful self-impression. But that is what this new policy does.
I can’t help but grieve that the Boy Scouts are going along with this radical redefinition of what it means to be a boy. They are making a big mistake in this, and it will be one that hurts not only their organization but also the very boys they wish to serve.
