Boy Scouts Officially Allowing In Gay Scouts on January 1st

After months of debate over the issue, the Boy Scouts of America will officially start welcoming openly gay scouts starting on the first day of the new year. And some Boy Scout leaders are hoping it has the same kind of impact that Y2K did on the first day of 2000: nothing.

One BSA national board member expressed hope that nothing drastic will happen, that “it’s business as usual, nothing happens and we move forward.”

However, the Boy Scouts have had to lay out some clear guidelines for what this new policy means. Boy Scouts, for example, are perfectly free to march in political demonstrations like gay pride parades, but not in uniform. Gay scouts can be open and honest about their sexuality, but “that acknowledgment may not reach the level of distraction.”

The gay ban came under intense fire over the past few years, with President Obama taking a strong stand against it during the 2012 campaign. After the Boy Scouts officially voted to end the ban, conservatives expressed their extreme displeasure with the move, including one radio host’s charge that BSA will now stand for “Boy Sodomizers of America.”

[photo via Shutterstock]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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