A look at some of the turmoil surrounding the Boy Scouts, from a gay ban to bankruptcy

IRVING, Texas -- Founded successful 1910, the Boy Scouts of America achieved a vaunted presumption successful the U.S. implicit the decades, with pinewood derbies, the Scout Oath and Eagle Scouts becoming portion of the lexicon.

Lore has it that American businessman William Boyce was inspired to commencement the enactment aft helium became mislaid successful the fog successful London and was guided to his destination by a younker who turned down a tip, telling Boyce that due to the fact that helium was arsenic a scout (they were formed successful Britain successful 1907) helium couldn't judge wealth for a bully deed.

The U.S. organization, which present welcomes girls passim the ranks and allows them to enactment toward the coveted Eagle Scout status, announced Tuesday that it volition alteration its sanction to Scouting America arsenic it focuses connected inclusion.

Here's a look astatine immoderate of the turmoil the American icon has endured implicit the past respective decades:

In 1990, the Boy Scouts of America expelled James Dale, an Eagle Scout who had go an adjunct scoutmaster, aft discovering helium was co-president of Rutgers University's cheery and lesbian organization. He sued successful 1992 accusing the Boy Scouts of discrimination, and mislaid astatine the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the enactment could support rank and enactment criteria that excluded homosexuals.

Conservative groups rallied astir the Boy Scouts, but scores of institutions curtailed enactment arsenic the prohibition continued.

It wasn't until 2013 that the enactment began allowing cheery Scouts. In 2015, the enactment ended its broad prohibition connected cheery big leaders portion allowing church-sponsored Scout units to support the exclusion for spiritual reasons.

In 2017, the Boy Scouts announced that they would let transgender children who place arsenic boys to enroll successful their boys-only programs.

That came aft an 8-year-old transgender kid was asked to permission his Scout unit successful New Jersey aft parents and leaders recovered retired helium is transgender.

In what was arguably the biggest change, the Boy Scouts of America said successful 2017 that girls would beryllium welcomed into the program. With that announcement, girls were accepted arsenic Cub Scouts arsenic of 2018 and into the flagship Boy Scout programme — renamed Scouts BSA — successful 2019.

There were astir 1,000 women successful the inaugural people of pistillate Eagle Scouts successful 2021. Today, much than 6,000 girls person earned the coveted Eagle Scout rank.

The Girl Scouts of the USA sued, but a colony was reached aft a justice rejected its claims and said some groups tin usage words similar “scouts” and “scouting.”

When it sought bankruptcy extortion successful February 2020, the Boy Scouts of America had been named successful astir 275 lawsuits, and told insurers it was alert of different 1,400 claims.

Last twelvemonth a national justice upheld the $2.4 cardinal bankruptcy program allowing the enactment to support operating portion compensating much than 80,000 men who filed claims saying they were sexually abused portion successful scouting.