The Boy Scouts of America announced Monday that, effective immediately, it will accept and register transgender youth into its organization.
The move marks a reversal of a policy in place for a century and is effective for the Boy Scouts and the Cub Scouts. The organization vowed to recognize the gender a youngster lists on an application.
"For more than 100 years, the BSA, along with schools, youth sports and other youth organizations, ultimately deferred to the information on an individual’s birth certificate to determine eligibility for and participation in many programs, especially single-gender programs," chief scout Michael Surbaugh said in a recorded published Monday to the organization's website.
"After weeks of significant conversations at all levels of our organization, we realize that referring to birth certificates as the reference point is no longer sufficient. Communities and state laws are now interpreting gender identity differently, and these new laws vary widely from state to state," he said.
As word spread about the decision, an 8-year-old transgender boy who was forced out of his Cub Scouts unit in northern New Jersey late last year because he was born a girl was invited to return.
Kristie Maldonado of Secaucus said she received a call on Monday night from the Northern New Jersey Council of the Boy Scouts telling her that her son, Joe, would be welcome back as a Cub Scout.
Joe’s story, first reported in The Record in December, led to a national debate over the Boy Scouts' policy at a time when the organization appeared to be emerging from a period of turmoil after its decisions, amid heated internal discussions, to overturn bans against gay Scouts and gay Scouting leaders in recent years.
She said she filed a civil rights complaint with state officials against the Northern New Jersey Council of the Boy Scouts last week, charging the organization with discrimination, and was considering going ahead with it. Joe had been a member of the pack for a month when a council official called her last year to tell her he would no longer be allowed to belong.
Joe apparently was the first child to be banned from the Boy Scouts for being transgender, according to advocates for gay and transgender people. The Scouts, they said, never had a formal policy related to transgender children, and the issue was not brought up when the organization overturned bans against gay Scouts and gay leaders that had been in place for decades.
The organization said it will continue to find units that are the best fit. "I hope you'll join with me in embracing the opportunity to bring scouting to more families and children," Surbaugh said.
Justin Wilson, executive director of Scouts for Equality, an advocacy group, called Monday’s news “a great surprise and great news.”