In 2018 and 2019, BSA allowed girls into its boys-only programs. This inclusion was accompanied by a ban on coed Cub Scout dens or coed Scouts BSA troops.
The coed ban is specious: It rests on misinformation and on sexist, racist, and harmful folklore. Its pile-on effects reduce youth safety, harm members, and harm the program. In its campaign to perpetuate the ban, BSA gaslights families and volunteers. This and more signals cultural rot, which is catastrophic to an organization that protects youth and develops leaders.
To end these harms, restore trust, promote equity and inclusion, be relevant to today’s families, and live the values it teaches, BSA must drop the specious coed ban. This allows a choice of coed or single-gender. It also must correct the culture that allowed it to implement and perpetuate the ban.
The ban can and should be dropped rapidly. The change must not be delayed with a pilot program.
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