The news is just beginning to trickle in, but it’s official, the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America has voted to allow openly gay youth to become members, reversing a long-standing and polarizing policy. From my perspective, this is about time, but is not as complete as I’d like to see, since openly gay leaders are still not accepted in the BSA. However, this goes a long way to erasing the stigma that’s been growing around scouting for the last several years.

I’ve been a scout and scouter for many years, including stints as a Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, and my current position as District Chairman of Orange District, Occoneechee Council. I’ve seen the impact of this divisive policy, and am looking forward to putting at least some of this controversy behind us…