Hegseth Says Scouting America Agrees To End All DEI Programs

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the military will continue to provide support for Scouting America — the youth group formerly called the Boy Scouts of America — after it promised to strip all diversity, equity, and inclusion elements from its program.Mr. Hegseth released a video on his X account on Friday saying he had been “seriously considering” ending support, which has traditionally come in the form of personnel assistance and access to military bases, because of cultural changes in the youth group. He said he decided to first meet with scouting leadership to seek changes.Mr. Hegseth said the organization has been in violation of President Trump’s executive order, titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” but is now agreeing to “key reforms” to come into compliance.“No more DEI. Zero,” Mr. Hegseth said.Among the changes that Scouting America has agreed to make, according to Mr. Hegseth, is eliminating its Citizenship in Society merit badge, a requirement for scouts to become an Eagle Scout, the highest rank a youth can achieve. The goal of the badge is to highlight the benefits of DEI by identifying and interviewing an individual who has had a “significant positive impact” in promoting DEI.Mr. Hegseth says the organization is also changing a policy that didn’t distinguish between male and female participants’ biological sex at birth. Scouting America will also ban biological boys and biological girls from sharing bathrooms, showers, and tents. The policy will also apply to adults in the program.Scouting America says it will also waive registration fees for the children of military families and introduce a new military service merit badge. “These, and other changes that Scouting America’s leadership committed to will hopefully result in a rededication to the foundational ideals that have defined scouting for generations: duty to God and country, leadership, character and service,” Mr. Hegseth said in his video message.The Pentagon has provided space and logistical support for the group’s national scout jamboree, a multi-day gathering of thousands of scouts from across the country that takes place every four years. A jamboree is scheduled for July at a reserve in West Virginia.The military has used previous jamborees as large-scale training exercises in logistics. Mr. Hegseth says support for the scouting program is contingent on the group making “substantial progress” on the changes it has agreed to. He says progress will be reviewed in six months.Scouting America is trying to overcome a series of problems. Membership, which stood at 10 million boys in 1970, has plunged to fewer than 1 million boys and girls this year. The group emerged in 2023 from a bankruptcy related to a giant settlement with abuse victims.The group started accepting gay youths in 2013 and lifted a ban on gay adult leaders in 2015. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said it was “deeply troubled” over gay leaders and eventually ended its 105-year relationship with scouting in 2019. Mormon churches had hosted many scout groups and more than 18 percent of youth members were Mormon.The group also faced pushback for announcing it would start admitting girls in 2017. The Girl Scouts of the USA filed a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts, claiming marketplace confusion and harm to its recruitment efforts. A settlement was reached after a judge ruled that both organizations could use terms like “scouts” and “scouting.”Scouting America said it was proud of its longstanding commitment to military families. “Today we are moving forward with implementing new programmatic elements that deliver on that mission: waiving registration fees for military families, launching a new merit badge focused on military service and veterans, and reinforcing our commitment to Scouting’s foundational ideas: leadership, character, duty to God, duty to country and service,” the group said in an emailed statement.

Hegseth Says Scouting America Agrees To End All DEI Programs

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