SALT LAKE CITY — The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) isn’t going to lose its largest sponsor after all. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) announced Aug. 26 that the Utah-based faith will stick with the Scouts after threatening in July to bolt from the youth group and form its own international organization for boys.
“At this time, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will go forward as a chartering organization of BSA and, as in the past, will appoint Scout leaders and volunteers who uphold and exemplify church doctrine, values and standards,” the church’s governing First Presidency of Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said in a news release.
After the Scouts voted to accept openly gay leaders July 27, LDS said it was “considering creating its own international program for boys, separate from (BSA)” That could have had dire financial consequences for BSA. LDS is far and away the nation’s largest Scouting sponsor, serving 437,160 boys in 37,933 troops.
While BSA insists that religiously affiliated troops, including those sponsored by LDS, can continue to ban gay leaders, many observers doubt such an exemption can be legally defended.
(RNS)
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