GLEN JEAN, WEST VIRGINIA — The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) have unveiled a tent championing homosexual and gender-confused scouts this week at the organization’s National Jamboree in West Virginia. The ten-day event is normally held every four years, but has been on pause since 2017.
In an article for The Washington Post, journalist Mike De Socio describes the tent as “decorated with a canopy of LGBTQ Pride flags and a string of multicolored lights, its tables covered with bowls of rainbow bracelets, pronoun stickers and diversity patches.”
“There’s been days where there’s 2,000 kids in this tent alone,” a gender-confused teen told the paper. “That is just, like, absurd.”
In addition to the colorful LGBTQ tent, this year’s jamboree hosted “panel discussions and guidance for scouts on ‘how to be an ally.’”
The increase in “inclusivity” has also led to a nosedive in participation at the National Jamboree. This year’s event had a turnout of 15,000 scouts – far fewer than half of the 40,000 who attended the 2017 jamboree.
MEMBERSHIP TANKING
De Socio is an Eagle Scout turned social justice warrior who is writing a book about how LGBTQ activists transformed the once conservative organization. While he celebrates the shift, De Socio acknowledges it has corresponded with a decline in popularity.
“Though its doors are now open to kids of all gender identities and sexual orientations, fewer than ever are accepting the invitation. The organization lost nearly half of its membership between 2019 and 2020.”
In 2015, the Boy Scouts relented to years of pressure from activists and permitted openly homosexual men and boys to participate as scouts and scout leaders. Two years later, they allowed gender-confused women and girls to do the same. In 2018, the organization opened its doors to all girls and changed its name to “Scouts BSA.”
Following the death of George Floyd in 2020, a group called “Scouts for Black Lives” successfully compelled BSA officials to add a new diversity merit badge to the Eagle Scout requirements.
Corresponding with this ideological shift came allegations of sexual abuse by 80,000 former boy scouts who claimed they were abused by troop leaders, resulting in an historic $2.46 billion settlement.
READ MORE: Girl Scouts to Allow Boys to Sleep in "Gender Inclusive" Tents on Overnight Camps
