told reporters.The shift has been a long time coming. The BSA didn’t lift its ban on gay and bi youth members until 2014, and gay and bi adult leaders until 2015.
The discriminatory ban was enacted in 1978, and infamously put into action when an assistant scoutmaster was removed when the BSA found out he was gay.
The man, James Dale, took his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court (the court ruled against him 5-4). BSA membership peaked at 5 million in 1972; and for decades, the group’s policies were stuck in time.
Girls were prohibited from joining until 2017, along with transgender boys. But now, there are more than 176,000 young girls and women in the Scouts.