Boy Scouts of America Membership and Leadership Policies in Controversial Areas

Introduction and Scope
This article covers membership and leadership policies of the Boy Scouts of America in areas where, for any reason, significant controversy has arisen. It also covers current BSA implementation and enforcement of these policies where such coverage provides additional insight into BSA's current practices in these areas.
Readers are also referred to the articles Boy Scouts of America and Boy Scouts of America membership controversies. The latter article covers the actual controversies and historical information in these areas.
Program Terminology
The major BSA programs and approximate ages served are:
*Cub Scouting (Including Tiger Cubs and Webelos) 7-10 years old
*Boy Scouting ages 11-18 year old (the "ing" suffix differentiates this term from "Boy Scouts of America", the name of the overall organization) )
*Venturing 14 - 21 years old
*Learning for Life (Including Exploring) 14 - 21 years old.
This list provides brief (and thus imprecise) definitions of program terms used in this article. See the article Boy Scouts of Americafor more thorough and precise information on these programs.
Gender
Policies

BSA policies restrict youth membership in the Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting programs to boys only. There are no gender restrictions for youth membership in the Venturing, Learning for Life and Exploring Programs. There are no gender restrictions for adult employment or membership or leadership positions in any of the programs.
Implementation and Enforcement
Gender restrictions for youth membership in Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting programs are fully enforced. Membership of both genders in all leadership positions is commonplace, as it is in youth membership in Venturing, Learning for Life and Exploring programs.
Illegal Aliens
Policies
BSA has no known policies restricting persons in the country illegally from membership or leadership positions. BSA has a policy that adult leaders be members, which requires completion of the adult membership application form. The adult membership form has many portions (such as providing background information and permission to perform background checks for youth protection purposes) which most persons in the country illegally and desiring secrecy would presumably not wish to complete.
Federal and State laws which apply when BSA acts as an employer are not covered in this article.
Implementation & Enforcement
BSA has no known membership or leadership policies specific to illegal aliens to enforce. Requirement of completion of the applications to become an adult member in order to become an adult leader is widely enforced.
Atheists and Agnostics
Policies
BSA has no known policies restricting atheists and agnostics from any membership or volunteer leadership positions in the Learning for Life or Exploring programs. BSA has policies which prohibit atheists and agnostics from membership and leadership positions in all other programs, and from employment in any position "as professional Scouters or in other capacities in which such employment would tend to interfere with its mission of reinforcing the values of the Scout Oath and the Scout Law in young people."
BSA does not require adherence to any particular religious beliefs. Buddhists, followers of Native American religions, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Christians of all denominations, Wiccans, and many others can be and are members of the BSA.
Implementation and Enforcement
General statements pertaining to God are pervasive in Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting and Venturing, beginning with the the membership application and then in commonly recited items such as "to do my duty to God and my country" the Scout Oath. The small number of documented cases of denial or revocation of membership (in the context of millions of memberships) to atheists and agnostics have been limited to cases where, due to included wording contrary to their beliefs, the individual has either refused to complete the membership application or expressly refused to recite the Scout Oath or other items containing references to God.
Homosexuality
Policies
The Learning for Life and Exploring programs have no known policies relating to homosexuality. Following are the operative clauses from policies which apply to all of the other BSA programs including Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting and Venturing:
*Adult Volunteer Leadership "Boy Scouts of America believes that a known or avowed homosexual is not an appropriate role model of the Scout Oath and Law for adolescent boys." BSA defines "known or avowed" as follows " “Known” is what is known about you. “Avowed” is what you say about yourself. “Known” focuses on cases where someone has engaged in conduct in the community which makes it clear that he or she engages in homosexual conduct. The major cases, however, have been those in which open or “avowed” homosexuals have come forward to test the policy."
*Youth Leadership Positions "In the unlikely event that an older boy were to hold himself out as homosexual, he would not be able to continue in a youth leadership position."
*Employment "Boy Scouts of America will not employ atheists, agnostics, known or avowed homosexuals, or others as professional Scouters or in other capacities in which such employment would tend to interfere with its mission of reinforcing the values of the Scout Oath and the Scout Law in young people."
*Membership There are no known current policies restricting homosexuals from membership
Implementation and Enforcement
*Learning for Life and Exploring There are no known BSA homosexuality-related policies to implement or enforce.
*All other Scouting programs including Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting and Venturing Various key terms in the policies, (and even key terms used in BSA definitions of key terms) are not defined, leaving significant latitude for interpretations, and thus substantial latitude for action or inaction. The small number of documented cases of enforcement in proportion to millions of memberships appears to be due to narrow interpretation of these terms. Known court cases have all involved holding of "adult" leadership positions, those open to persons 18 years of age or older. The most prominent of these (having gone to the US Supreme Court) was the Boy Scouts of America v. Dale case. There are no known BSA procedures, initiatives or forms to ascertain the sexual preference of an individual.
Effects on Recruitment Practices
A pervasive objective of the BSA organization is to increase youth membership. With the following exception, there is no evidence of any screening or reduction of efforts based on the criteria described in this article. The exception to this is that girls are not recruited for the Cub Scouting or Boy Scouting programs, but are recruited for the Venturing, Exploring and Learning for Life programs.

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