 The Boy Scouts of America will review a resolution that would allow individual units to accept gays as adult leaders, but a spokesman says there's no expectation that the ban on gay leaders will in fact be lifted any time soon. During last week's meeting, the Scouts were presented with a petition, bearing more than 275,000 names, protesting the ouster of a lesbian mother, Jennifer Tyrrell, who'd been serving as a Scout den mother near Bridgeport, Ohio. Ohioan Jennifer Tyrrell was a volunteer for her 7-year-old son's troop and said that after a year of service she lost the post and had her membership revoked "just because I happen to be gay." Within a week of reporting these findings to the council, I received notice that my membership had been revoked, based on my sexual orientation, citing that because I'm gay, I did "not meet the high standards of membership that the BSA seeks." The resolution was submitted by a Scout leader from the Northeast in April and presented last week at the Scouts' national meeting in Orlando, Fla., according to BSA spokesman Deron Smith. If the policy change is approved this time, the Boy Scouts wouldn't make any change until 2013, but Tyrrell said in reaction that it "is definitely a huge step in the right direction." Shortly after registering my son for Cub Scouts, I was asked to assume the role of den leader and was persuaded by a platform of tolerance, acceptance and support.
– The Boy Scouts of America isn't making any promises, but it will at least review its policy that seeks to keep gay people out of the organization. The group says it will consider a resolution that would allow gay adults to serve as leaders in individual units, reports AP. The issue has been front and center following the dismissal of a lesbian den mother in Ohio, along with the Change.org petition that arose on her behalf. It now has close to 300,000 signatures, notes the Advocate. During the group's national meeting last week, activist Zach Wahls presented the organization with 275,000 signatures calling for a change in the policy. Wahls is an Eagle Scout with two lesbian moms who rose to fame with his public defense of them. "I love the organization and I refuse to stand by idly as it forfeits its cultural relevancy at the very moment this country needs it most," said the author of My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family.