text: The Boy Scouts organization has told a Seattle-area church that it can no longer host a troop because the church has vowed to keep a gay man on as troop leader. 
   
   The Boy Scouts of America said Sunday that it was contacting leaders and parents of the children in Troop 98 and its affiliated Cub Scout pack to tell them that Rainier Beach United Methodist Church is no longer authorized to be a charter partner. 
   
   Boy Scout troops must have a charter partner, which often offers a place to meet and financial support. The scouting organization bans gay adults from membership, and an openly gay man, Geoff McGrath, runs the troop at Rainier Beach. 
   
   “Because the church no longer agrees to the terms of the BSA chartered organization agreement, which includes following BSA policies, it is no longer authorized to offer the Scouting program,” Deron Smith, a Boy Scouts spokesman, told NBC News in an email. He added that the organization was “saddened by this development.” 
   
   The BSA’s top leader in Seattle has told parents that a local community center has offered to take over the pack and troop. 
   
   Rev. Monica Corsaro of the church outside Seattle said the move was expected, but she said that her congregation’s anti-discrimination beliefs were not being respected. 
   
   She also called it a “unilateral decision” by the BSA and said that the church was not consulted. (The BSA said it called Corsaro; she said she could not talk last week during the busy Christian Holy Week holidays.) 
   
   “Breaking us up like this seems to go against everything the Boy Scouts is about,” Corsaro told NBC News. “It seems to me that when you are in a dispute with a partner you try to work it out with the partner. It’s very clear we’re not viewed as an equal partner.” 
   
   Corsaro said the church would still offer a youth program but had not had a chance to discuss what that would be. About 15 boys participate in either the troop or the pack. 
   
   NBC News was reporting on Troop 98 and its Scoutmaster, McGrath, in late March when the Boy Scouts revoked McGrath’s membership as an adult leader. The BSA said because McGrath was openly gay, he could not participate in the organization. Corsaro said at the time that her church would keep McGrath on in his role as Scoutmaster. 
   
   The Boy Scouts has grappled with its controversial membership policy barring gays in recent years. In an historic ballot last May, its 1,400-member National Council voted to allow gay youth — but not adults — to join Scouting beginning last Jan. 1. 
   
   Troop 98 got its start not long after that contentious ballot. Clergy in McGrath’s Seattle neighborhood wanted to start a youth program because there were few in the area, Corsaro said. The clergy reached out to McGrath, a member of the Methodist Church, to ask whether he could lead a Boy Scout unit. 
   
   McGrath, a married Eagle Scout, hesitated because he worried that his sexual orientation would sink the effort. He said he didn't hide his sexual orientation from Scouting leaders, but Seattle’s top BSA official told NBC News that she never knew he was gay. 
   
   McGrath is believed to be the first gay adult to be booted from the Boy Scouts of America since last May’s vote. He said Sunday that he was “shocked” by the BSA decision. 
   
   “It’s just so astounding to me that they would take this tiny, small issue and dissolve two units over it without having a proper conversation with the pastor,” he told NBC News by phone. 
   
   The gay fathers of a child who joined Troop 98 after NBC's article said they had received a letter from the BSA’s top leader in Seattle with the offer to transfer to a troop at a local community center. One of the fathers, Kevin Reed, said they had no plans to go elsewhere. 
   
   Their son, Adrian Benitez, 14, said: “I don’t feel too good about it because it’s really offensive to my dads and Geoff.” ||||| Photo Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
   
   SEATTLE — The Boy Scouts of America, which voted last year to allow gay scouts but not openly gay scout leaders, has revoked the charter of a church-sponsored troop here for refusing to fire its adult gay scoutmaster. 
   
   The decision, which one gay rights organization said was a first since the policy change last year, essentially bars the Rainier Beach United Methodist Church and its 15 scouts from using logos, uniforms or names associated with the Boy Scouts as long as the scoutmaster and Eagle Scout Geoffrey McGrath, 49, remains in charge. 
   
   The church’s pastor, the Rev. Dr. Monica K. Corsaro, said Monday that Mr. McGrath was there to stay, and so was the youth group he leads, though perhaps without the familiar uniforms and the Scout oath. 
   
   “We’re going to stand firm,” she said. “Geoffrey attends our church, and this is a way to support our youth in the neighborhood.” 
   
   This month, the Boy Scouts ordered the dismissal of Mr. McGrath, a software engineer who is married to his longtime partner, after he spoke about his sexual orientation in a news article profiling the troop, which was formed last year in a south Seattle neighborhood heavily populated by immigrants and lower-income families. The decision to disenfranchise the organization, sent in a letter on Friday, came after church officials said they would continue to support Mr. McGrath and had no intention of following the order. 
   
   “Because the church no longer agrees to the terms of the B.S.A.-chartered organization agreement, which includes following B.S.A. policies, it is no longer authorized to offer the scouting program,” a spokesman for the Boy Scouts, Deron Smith, said in an emailed statement on Monday. “We are saddened by this development.” 
   
   The debate over whether to allow gays in scouting has been a grim one for the Boy Scouts, which has prided itself for generations on its assertions that scouting builds character and integrity, even as revelations in recent years about sexual predators in the ranks have exploded in court cases and news coverage. The scandals have made the organization sensitive about choosing leaders, many people involved in scouting said, especially as scout numbers have declined. Last year’s policy shift, to allow gay youths, sharply divided the religious community in particular. 
   
   Mr. McGrath, who is on vacation in Italy, said in a telephone interview that discussions were already beginning about what might come next for the youth organization at Rainier Beach. However, Mr. Smith, the Boy Scouts spokesman, said in his statement, “We have already identified a new chartered organization to sponsor the units and are contacting the parents and leaders of the units to inform them of the change.” 
   
   Mr. McGrath described his church’s youth group as diverse. He said there were boys from immigrant families, including from Asia and Africa, as well as two boys with gay fathers. 
   
   “We’ll have to figure out a new name,” he said.
target: – A church-sponsored Boy Scout troop in Washington state has had its charter revoked for refusing to fire its gay scoutmaster. The decision bars the Rainier Beach United Methodist Church from using the Scout name or logo as long as Eagle Scout Geoff McGrath, 49, remains in charge, the New York Times reports. Boy Scouts of America—which voted last year to allow gay scouts but not gay leaders—says it is "saddened by this development," but the church is no longer allowed to offer the scouting program because it is not following BSA policies. BSA lawyers say the church's 15 scouts will have the opportunity to transfer to another troop. The church's Rev. Monica Corsaro says the organization never consulted the church about the move. "Breaking us up like this seems to go against everything the Boy Scouts is about," she tells NBC. "It seems to me that when you are in a dispute with a partner you try to work it out with the partner. It’s very clear we’re not viewed as an equal partner." She says the church plans to stand by McGrath, who is married to his partner of 20 years, and the youth program will continue under a different name. "We’re going to stand firm," she says. "Geoffrey attends our church, and this is a way to support our youth in the neighborhood."