Wednesday, May 8, 2024 The Paducah Sun B7 BY JAMIE STENGLE ASSOCIATED PRESS IRVING, Texas The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. a significant shift as the organization emerges from bankr uptcy fol- lowing a flood of sexual abuse claims and seeks to focus on inclusion. The organization steeped in tradition has made seismic changes after decades of turmoil, from finally allowing gay youth to welcoming girls throughout its ranks. With an eye on increas- ing flagging membership numbers, the Ir ving, Texas-based organiza- tion announced the name change Tuesday at its annual meeting in Florida. the next 100 years we want any youth in America to feel very, very welcome to come into our Roger Krone, who took over last fall as president and chief executive officer, said in an inter view before the announcement.
The organization began allowing gay youth in 2013 and ended a blanket ban on gay adult leaders in 2015. In 2017, it made the historic announce- ment that girls would be accepted as Cub Scouts as of 2018 and into the flagship Boy Scout pro- gram renamed Scouts BSA in 2019. Over 6,000 girls have now achieved the vaunted Eagle Scout rank. There were nearly 1,000 young women in the inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts in 2021, including Selby Chipman. The all-girls troop she was a founding member of in her home- town of Oak Ridge, North Carolina, has grown from five girls to nearly 50, and she thinks the name change will encourage even more girls to realize they can join.
were like: can join Boy Scouts of said Chipman, now a 20-year-old college student and assistant scoutmaster of her troop. When people ques- tion the need to change the name, Krone points out that membership is at historic lows. of my job is to reduce all the barriers I possibly can for people to accept us as an organization and to he said. Like other organiza- tions, the scouts lost members during the pan- demic, when participation was difficult. After a high- point over the last decade of over 2 million members in 2018, the organization currently ser vices just over 1 million youths, including more than 176,000 girls and young women.
Membership peaked in 1972 at almost 5 million. David Aaker, vice chair- man of the national brand- ing and marketing firm Prophet, author and pro- fessor emeritus at the Uni- versity of California-Berke- ley, called the name change an move that gives the orga- nization a chance to start a new conversation about itself, while not being so drastic that it strays too far from its original scouting mission. a onetime chance to tell a new Aaker said. The National Organiza- tion for Women had urged the Boy Scouts to open itself to girls throughout its ranks. Bear Atwood, vice president of NOW, said the name change nals that not only are girls allowed to join but they are welcome to Reaction online Tues- day ranged from those excited and supportive to those decr ying that no longer appears in the name.
destroys ever ything it wrote Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Georgia Republican, on X. But Lois Alvar, a 20-year- old Eagle Scout and assis- tant scoutmaster from the Dallas area, said the new name should help all scouts feel accepted. ing it nationally recog- nized that girls are being welcomed and included in scouting allows it to be a more safe space, just in she said. The move to accept girls throughout the Boy Scout ranks strained a bond with the Girl Scouts of the USA, which sued, saying it created marketplace confusion and damaged their recruitment efforts.
They reached a settlement agreement after a judge rejected those claims, say- ing both groups are free to use words like and Boy Scouts changing name to Scouting America AP Kolczynski Selby Chipman, 20-years-old, speaks to the Boys Scouts of America annual meeting in Orlando, on Tuesday. BAPTIST HEALTH URGENT VIRTUAL CARE IS HERE FOR YOU when you need care for anything from a sore throat to a stomachache or a sprained wrist. We bring you more options and greater convenience too, with video visits available and online check-in through MyChart for in-person visits. Whenever. Wherever.
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