On Monday, July 27 the Boy Scouts' national executive board voted to lift its ban that prevented openly gay or bisexual adults from serving as scout leaders. The policy became effective immediately after the vote, and will also allow previous leaders who were removed based on their sexual orientation to reapply for employment.

Seventy-nine percent of the board present at the time of the vote were in favor of ratifying this amendment according to a statement from the Boy Scouts Association.

The current Scouts' President Robert Gates stated, “Due to the social, political, and legal changes taking place in our country and in our movement, I did not believe the adult leadership policy could be sustained.”

Gates also said in his statement, "For far too long this issue has divided and distracted us, now it's time to unite behind our shared belief in the extraordinary power of scouting to be a force for good in a community and in the lives of its youth members.”

The policy does come with one proviso: individually chartered groups are still allowed to uphold the ban on gay leaders if they choose. This stipulation may prove to be controversial with LGBTQ alliances as well as the general public, as it allows troops to make selections based upon their homophobic beliefs.

The Mormon Church is one religious group that has found issue with the new policy allowing gay leaders and has even talked of cutting ties with the Boy Scouts Organization altogether. They responded to the lift on the ban saying, "The Church has always welcomed all boys to its scouting units regardless of sexual orientation, however, the admission of openly gay leaders is inconsistent with the doctrines of the Church and what have traditionally been the values of the Boy Scouts of America."

The Executive Director of Scouts for Equality Zach Wahls made a statement saying, “For decades, the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on gay adults has stood as a towering example of explicit, institutional homophobia in one of America’s most important and recognizable civic organizations. While this policy change is not perfect—BSA’s religious chartering partners will be allowed to continue to discriminate against gay adults—it is difficult to overstate the importance of today’s announcement.”

While the new policy seems to be trying to take a step in the right direction, in reality it does not fully accept homosexuality in its troops at all. The Scouts' decisions seem to be fueled by funding. It has lost sponsors for banning gays in its troops and it is now losing sponsorship for allowing gay leaders.

Hopefully, the Boy Scouts will soon take their newly implemented policy one step further and make a ruling that accepts gay people across all BSA groups.