Boy Scouts to Consider Allowing Gay Scouts and Leaders 
 
 The Boy Scouts confirmed today that it is considering a change of policy that lets gay scouts and leaders serve openly in local chapters. 
 
 
 
 The announcement comes after activist Zach Wahls delivered 275,000 petition signatures to the group and met with its leadership. Wahls, an Eagle Scout who has two moms, was outraged that a lesbian mother had been removed as den leader for a Cub Scout troop. And he got back into his uniform and delivered the petition on her behalf last week. 
 
 
 
 "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 Wahls, author of My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family. 
 
 
 
 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." Tyrrell was told that being gay meant she did "not meet the high standards of membership that the BSA seeks." 
 
 
 
 Now nearly 300,000 people have signed Tyrrell's petition on Change.org. And that includes a growing list of celebrities such as The Hunger Games's Josh Hutcherson, singer Ricky Martin and Glee's Dianna Agron. 
 
 A spokesman for the Boy Scouts said a resolution on the change was submitted by a Scout leader in April, before Wahls's visit, and it will now be considered by a committee. He emphasized that similar resolutions have been considered in the past, as early as 2000. 
 
 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." 
 
 
 
 "I was heartbroken," Tyrrell said of losing her job a den leader. "But the blow was softened by the outpouring of support I received from my community and the parents of the boys I had dedicated myself to. I know if it was up to my community, I'd still be a Cub Scout Den Leader today." ||||| 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 Smith said Wednesday it would be referred to a subcommittee, which will then make a recommendation to the national executive board. The process would likely be completed by May 2013, according to Smith, who said there were no plans at this time to change the policy. 
 
 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. 
 
 Among those who presented the Change.org petition, and met with Scout officials, was Eagle Scout Zach Wahls, an Iowa college student who was raised by lesbian mothers. 
 
 Wahls, in a telephone interview, said he and his allies planned a campaign to mobilize opposition to the gay-exclusion policy from within Scout ranks, with the goal of building pressure for the resolution to be approved. 
 
 "Up to the day they end this policy, they'll be saying they have no plans to do so," Wahls said. "But there's no question it's costing the Boy Scouts in terms of membership and public support." 
 
 The Scouts, who celebrated their 100th anniversary in 2010, have had a long-standing policy of excluding gays and atheists. Controversy over the policy intensified in 2000 when the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Scouts to maintain the policy in the face of a legal challenge. 
 
 Leaders of several regional scouting councils have asked for the policy to be scrapped or modified, to no avail. ||||| My name is Jennifer Tyrrell. I am a devoted partner, mother, friend and community leader in Bridgeport, Ohio. I’m also a former Tiger Cub den leader with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). I was recently removed from this volunteer position, and my membership was revoked after nearly a year of service – just because I happen to be gay. 
 
 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. Throughout the year, my cubs performed volunteer service at a local soup kitchen, collected canned goods for area churches to distribute in food baskets, participated in bell-ringing for the Salvation Army, and, at the time of my removal, were working on a conservation project for a state park. My Tiger Cubs earned multiple Scout badges for service and skills, while learning and exercising the 12 Core Values of Scouting: citizenship, compassion, cooperation, courage, faith, health & fitness, honesty, perseverance, positive attitude, resourcefulness, respect, and responsibility. 
 
 The revocation of my membership came shortly after I was elected treasurer of my pack and uncovered some inconsistencies in the pack's finances. 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." 
 
 There was an outcry of support for me by the parents of my Tiger Scouts, many of whom waited for hours to voice their concerns to members of the council and the pack's charter organization, but were turned away without the opportunity to do so. 
 
 It is time for the Boy Scouts of America to reconsider its policy of exclusivity against gay youth and leaders. Please sign this petition to call for an end of discrimination in an organization that is shaping the future. 
 
 As more individuals become aware of the discrimination I’ve been dealing with, it is my hope that these incidents will happen less frequently -- if at all. 
 
 Please join me and take a stand. If you would also like to support my work to end the Boy Scouts' policy barring gay scouts and gay scout leaders, you can do so here:
– 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.