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Scouts for Equality (SFE) is an American advocacy organization that advocates for equal treatment within the Boy Scouts of America's (BSA) for all scouts and scout leaders, regardless of sexual orientation. On July 17, 2012, the BSA reaffirmed a policy, first established in 1991, which prohibited "known or avowed" gay scouts and scout leaders from participating in the organization. On May 23, 2013, the BSA approved a resolution to remove the restriction denying membership to youth on the basis of sexual orientation alone (effective January 1, 2014), but maintained the national ban on gay scout leaders. Scouts for Equality continues to advocate for an end to the BSA's requirement that scout leaders be heterosexual. In late May 2015, Robert Gates, the president of the BSA, called for an ending of the ban on gay scouting leaders. == History == In April 2012, Jennifer Tyrrell, a lesbian Den Mother from Ohio, was ousted from her son’s Cub Scout Pack. A friend sent her story to GLAAD (formerly the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), which introduced her to Change.org (Change), an online petition platform. Ms. Tyrrell’s petition asking for reinstatement gathered 275,000 signatures in a matter of days. Zach Wahls—a straight Eagle Scout who rose to national prominence after a video of his testimony before the Iowa legislature about his lesbian parents became YouTube’s top political video in 2011—delivered Ms. Tyrrell’s petition to senior BSA leadership at their annual national meeting in late May 2012. As a continuation of their work in delivering this petition to the BSA, Mr. Wahls and Jonathan Hillis—a former BSA Executive Board youth member and a fellow straight Eagle Scout—founded Scouts for Equality (SFE), an organization of Scouts opposed to the BSA’s ban on gay Scouts and Scouters. One month after the founding of SFE, the BSA publicly re-affirmed their ban on gay members and leaders. In the wake of that reaffirmation, Scouts for Equality led a nationwide campaign to highlight both the devastating impact of the ban on youth and adults, both gay and straight, and the detrimental long-term effects on the BSA’s future. The campaign received wall-to-wall coverage when Scouts for Equality broke the story of Ryan Andresen, an all-American youth from California who was denied his Eagle Scout award because he was gay. Amid mounting pressure—both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama called on the BSA to end their ban—the Boy Scouts of America decided, after more than thirty years, to publicly address the issue and announced in February 2013 that the ban would be put up to a vote of their 1,400-member National Council in May, 2013. Scouts for Equality had a three-month window to influence this vote, and put together a team of twenty-three full-time campaign staff with a heavy emphasis on field organizing. In April, the BSA announced that the resolution to be voted on in May would not address their ban on gay adults and would only concern gay youth. However, instead of proposing a “local option” that would have allowed individual councils to enforce the ban at their discretion, this “youth option” would be nationwide. On May 23, 2013, the Boy Scouts of America’s National Council voted 61.3% in favor of ending the BSA’s longstanding ban on gay youth. SFE is now executing a long-term three-pronged strategy for growing inclusive Scouting, which was announced in December, 2013: 1. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Scouts for Equality」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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