After years of catering to harassment from left-wing agitators, the 114-year-old organization announced Tuesday that it was formally changing its name from the Boy Scouts of America to Scouting America, according to Newsmax.
The shift formally signals that the Scouts are no longer exclusively for boys.
Krone tied the shift to a record decline in membership. “Part of my job is to reduce all the barriers I possibly can for people to accept us as an organization and to join,” he said.
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“Though our name will be new, our mission remains unchanged: we are committed to teaching young people to be Prepared. For Life,” said Krone. “This will be a simple but very important evolution as we seek to ensure that everyone feels welcome in Scouting.”
“Scouting America provides a welcoming, safe environment where youth can become the best version of themselves by learning from and respecting each other,” said Krone. “I encourage everyone to join us and experience the benefits of Scouting.”
The National Organization for Women, which apparently thought the Girls Scouts were not enough and had long pushed the Scouts to take in girls, praised the decision, with Vice President Bear Atwood saying the new name “signals that not only are girls allowed to join but they are welcome to join.”
But few of either sex are joining these days.
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The Scouts boasted 5 million members in 1972. Over the past ten years, membership peaked at 2 million in 2018.
Today, that number is about 1 million, with roughly 18% of them being girls and young women.
The pandemic adversely affected the Scouts’ membership, but perhaps the group’s recent history helps explain why membership is tanking.
The Scouts began accepting gay kids in 2013, ended a blanket ban on gay adult leaders in 2015, and announced in 2017 that it would accept girls.
Since 2019, when girls were first let into the Scouts, which had already changed the name to Scouts BSA, more than 6,000 girls have become Eagle Scouts.
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The Scouts filed for bankruptcy protection and, in 2023, agreed to pay $2.46 billion to settle claims from thousands of former male members alleging sexual and physical abuse from leaders.
Writing at WND.com, commentator Erik Rush noted, "In July of 2015, the Boy Scouts of America announced that it was lifting its national ban on homosexual adult leaders. This came after years of activist pressure, during which the BSA was encouraged to admit homosexual Scouts, Scout leaders, and, finally, girls to their ranks."
"Homosexuals were allowed into the Boy Scouts. The BSA is now experiencing an epidemic of sexual misconduct and lawsuits,” Rush added. “This was not the case prior to their admittance of homosexuals into the organization. At this point, denying the correlation is as irrational as denying the existence of gravity."
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