The Boy Scouts’ president, former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, called for change in May. The new policy enables religiously chartered Scouting units to “continue to use religious beliefs as a criterion for selecting adult leaders, including matters of sexuality” no adult applying for a job as a paid employee or as a volunteer outside a local unit will be turned away on the basis of sexual orientation. The Boy Scouts lifted its ban on gay youth in 2013. The Boy Scouts of America mission is to prepare youth for life and leadership and has 2.5 million members between the ages of 7 and 21 and about 960,000 volunteers in local units.
