Why the Boy Scouts Are Rebranding
After more than a century of existence, some of it fraught by serious controversy, the Boy Scouts of America announced in May 2024 it would rename itself to “Scouting America” in order to be more inclusive. The organization faced criticism for years for a 1978 ban on gay and bisexual scouts and leaders. Although it ended that ban in 2014 and 2015, the damage to its reputation was done.
Further, rampant sexual abuse of children was found in the organization, with thousands of abuse cases swept under the rug until the organization faced a legal challenges and a massive lawsuit. The Scouts also had a history of racist exclusion.
In light of the aggressive right-wing attacks on the LGBTQ community, the Boy Scouts’ rebranding effort seems courageous. But according to Mike De Socio, author of the new book Morally Straight: How the Fight for LGBTQ+ Inclusion Changed the Boy Scouts—and America, it’s more complicated than that.
De Socio is an award-winning independent journalist, raised in New Jersey, where he became an Eagle Scout. He spoke with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about the Scouts’ new chapter.
Sonali Kolhatkar
joined YES! in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute’s Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice (2023) and Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence (2005). Her forthcoming book is called Talking About Abolition (Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women’s Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master’s in Astronomy from the University of Hawai’i, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on “My Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host” in her 2014 TEDx talk of the same name.
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