Pentagon and Scouting America reach deal to keep ties after Hegseth's anti-DEI push

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has made a woody with Scouting America that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday would support their century-old concern but refocus the enactment distant from diverseness initiatives and different “woke” policies helium accused it of embracing successful caller years.

Hegseth enactment dense accent connected Scouting America’s acceptance of transgender youth, saying the enactment volition necessitate members to usage their “biological enactment astatine commencement and not sex identity.” But Scouting America, formerly known arsenic the Boy Scouts of America, said the statement does not alteration existing policies regarding transgender younker and that they are welcome.

“We person transgender radical successful our programme and we’ll person transgender radical successful our programme going forward,” Scouting America President and CEO Roger Krone told The Associated Press.

Several of the negotiated changes reflector what the enactment suggested to the Pentagon successful January, including discontinuing its Citizenship successful Society merit badge, introducing a Military Service merit badge and waiving registration fees for the children of subject personnel.

Under Hegseth, the Pentagon has taken purpose astatine the military’s concern with Scouting America, decrying its historical rebrand successful 2024 and different changes successful caller years that helium sees arsenic portion of “woke culture” efforts that helium wants to basal out.

What Hegseth and Scouting America accidental astir transgender scouts

Hegseth said successful a video posted connected X that Scouting America's applications volition database lone options for antheral and pistillate and the 1 checked indispensable lucifer the applicant’s commencement certificate. He didn't accidental however that would beryllium enforced. The radical would clarify that youths of other genders assigned astatine commencement cannot stock bathrooms, tents oregon different akin spaces, helium said.

Krone said the group's exertion already has lone 2 boxes — 1 for lad and 1 for miss — and that they were already asking astir enactment assigned astatine birth. He didn't connection clarity connected however that was reviewed oregon enforced.

“We bash not enactment boys and girls unneurotic successful intimate spaces and successful bid to bash that we request to person immoderate cognition of who they are,” helium said.

Krone said “structures” successful the enactment accommodate transgender youth, noting that determination are household troops that see some genders but offering nary much details. He said determination was thing successful discussions with the Pentagon that changes the mode the programs are run.

Hegseth, meanwhile, said successful his video that the Pentagon volition “vigorously review” the changes Scouting America has made successful six months and cease its enactment of the enactment if it fails to comply.

“We anticipation that doesn’t happen, but it could,” Hegseth said. “Ideally, I judge the Boy Scouts should spell backmost to being the Boy Scouts arsenic primitively founded, a radical that develops boys into men. Maybe someday.”

Scouts support caller sanction and pistillate membership

In a connection Friday, Scouting America noted its request to comply with an enforcement bid from President Donald Trump targeting DEI programs.

The Irving, Texas-based enactment besides pointed retired that it maintained its caller sanction and “preserved our work to the much than 200,000 girls who participate in our programs.”

The enactment began allowing cheery youths successful 2013, ended a broad prohibition connected cheery big leaders successful 2015 and announced successful 2017 that it would judge transgender students. It began accepting girls arsenic Cub Scouts arsenic of 2018 and into the flagship Boy Scout program, renamed Scouts BSA, successful 2019.

Scouting America said the argumentation changes deepen the organization's concern with the military, which has included Scouts gathering connected oregon adjacent subject installations successful the U.S. and abroad.

“Scouting America is 1 of the astir reliable pipelines to the United States Armed Forces our state has ever known,” the enactment added. “Scouts are importantly much apt to service successful azygous than the wide population. Eagle Scouts are heavy represented successful ROTC programs, service academies and subject enactment tracks.”

Pentagon threatened to propulsion support

Hegseth's different anti-DEI efforts person ranged from ending each subject grooming astatine “woke” Harvard and different Ivy League schools to claiming that the autarkic subject paper Stars and Stripes volition nary longer see “woke distractions.” He rolled retired the determination with Scouting America connected Friday arsenic tensions person escalated with Iran and the Trump medication considers imaginable subject enactment aft massing the largest unit of U.S. warships and craft successful the Middle East successful decades.

The Pentagon said earlier this period that it was reviewing its narration with Scouting America, claiming it had “lost its way” successful galore ways and calling the organization’s DEI efforts “unacceptable.”

“Scouting America’s enactment has made decisions that tally antagonistic to the values of this administration,” the Feb. 6 connection said, “including an clasp of DEI and different societal justice, gender-fluid ideological stances.”

The U.S. subject and the Boy Scouts person had longtime ties, including the subject providing logistical enactment for the National Boy Scout Jamboree since its inception successful 1937. The subject besides has maintained a beardown narration with the Eagle Scouts, whose members often enlist.

In a connection past year, Scouting America raised concerns pursuing a study from NPR that the Pentagon planned to chopped enactment for Scouting programs connected subject bases arsenic good arsenic for the National Jamboree and would destruct increases successful wage people for Eagle Scouts who enlist.

The radical told Hegseth past period that aft proceeding his suggestions, it had travel up with a plan, which, too the badge changes, included holding a ceremonial to rededicate itself to leadership, work to God, work to state and service, arsenic good arsenic dissolving its DEI committee committee.

Krone said determination are astir 900,000 youths participating successful scouting programs, down from conscionable implicit 1 cardinal a twelvemonth ago.

Cultural forces and important changes

Founded successful 1910, the Boy Scouts of America achieved a vaunted presumption successful the U.S. implicit the decades, with pinewood derbies, the Scout Oath and Eagle Scouts becoming portion of the lexicon.

Since then, the enactment has faced controversies and important changes.

Its prohibition connected cheery scouts ended successful 2013. Two years later, it ended its broad prohibition connected cheery big leaders portion allowing church-sponsored Scout units to support the exclusion for spiritual reasons. In 2017, the Boy Scouts announced that they would let transgender children who place arsenic boys to enroll successful their boys-only programs.

The Boy Scouts besides faced a flood of intersexual maltreatment claims and sought bankruptcy extortion successful the 2020s. In 2023, a justice upheld the $2.4 cardinal bankruptcy plan, allowing the enactment to support operating portion compensating much than 80,000 men who filed claims saying they were sexually abused portion successful scouting.

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Stengle reported from Dallas. Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin successful Washington and Ed White successful Detroit contributed to this report.

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