After more than a century in existence, Boy Scouts of America announced changes last week to its namesake program. Beginning in February 2019, the Boy Scouts program will begin serving girls as well as boys, and will change its name to Scouts BSA.
The recent announcement does not affect the organizations’ other programs such as Cub Scouts and Exploring, and the name change will only apply to the program, not the overall organization, which will still be known as Boy Scouts of America.
The announcement was met with mixed reactions on the national level, as well as locally.
“My wife and I are involved with the Cub Scouts. We have two boys and are excited our daughter will be able to join,” Jeremy Hilker of Litchfield said on social media.
“Boy Scouts has been about learning how to be a better man,” said Josh Kolb of Hutchinson. “Letting girls into the group will take a lot of the boys focus away … This is the downfall of one of our nation’s great groups.”
While reactions from the public have been good and bad, at least two Scout leaders in the Litchfield and Hutchinson areas agree that the changes will be a good thing for the program and the Scouts themselves.
Brett Rasmussen of Hutchinson has been involved with Scouts for 45 years. Ten of those years were as a child and the past 35 years as a scoutmaster and other adult leadership. He sees this change similar to other gender-equality changes that have happened through the years.
“I remember back when I was in seventh or eighth grade when all of a sudden they were going to have girls sports, and everyone wondered how it was going to work out,” Rasmussen said. “I think now, how many years later, we think girls sports and girls involved in sports is very good.
“A few years later when I was at St. Thomas, it was an all-male school, and they announced they were going to have women enrolled at St. Thomas,” he continued. “I think now … that has turned out very good and hasn’t hurt St. Catherine down the road. So I kind of look at girls in Boy Scouts the same way. It’s a change and it can be very good for the girls and for Scouting, just as it has for girls in sports and women at the University of St. Thomas.”
Jesse Knudsen of Litchfield, who was a Scout growing up and is now a scoutmaster and district activities chair of the Trailblazer District, also welcomes these changes.
“There have been a lot of girls, including my own daughter, who get dragged with to many Cub Scout meetings and activities, and they are usually allowed to participate in whatever the activity is, but they’re not able to actually wear the uniform and earn the badges,” Knudsen said. “So it’s been a de facto participation for awhile, and this makes it official and gives the girls the benefits and satisfaction of actually earning the badges, and the recognition.”
The two scoutmasters believe anger over the changes may be because there is a misunderstanding about what they mean. While they will affect the Boy Scouts program, which is for kids age 11 to 17, girls have been involved with other Boy Scouts of America programs, such as Exploring and Venturing, since 1971.
One of the organization’s other flagship programs, Cub Scouts, for kids age 7 to 10, also announced this past October that it would begin serving girls this year. The recent change follows that trend and will give those girls who join Cub Scouts a chance to continue in the Scouts and work toward the program’s highest rank, Eagle Scout.
Concerns about mixed-gender troops are also misinformed, according to the BSA, as the troop structure will remain single-gender. So boys will be in troops with only boys, and girls will be in troops with only girls. Cub Scouts have three options: all-boy packs, all-girl packs or mixed packs with all-boy dens and all-girl dens.
“My own daughter was involved in the Venturing program and enjoyed the experience,” Rasmussen said. “She got to go to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, which is owned and operated by Boy Scouts of America. So really, in some ways it’s a big change and in some ways it’s a little change.”
The change won’t just affect Boy Scouts. When the BSA announced last year it would begin recruiting girls for its Cub Scouts program, the Girl Scouts of the USA responded with a statement to ABC News: “The Boy Scouts’ house is on fire. Instead of addressing systemic issues of continuing sexual assault, financial mismanagement and deficient programming, BSA’s senior management wants to add an accelerant to the house fire by recruiting girls.”
Local Girl Scouts leaders were contacted for this story but did not return our calls in time.
While the Girl Scouts continue to endorse single-gender programs and don’t like the Boy Scouts in their territory, the BSA is moving ahead with its plans. And while some aspects are changing, members of the BSA say one thing won’t.
“The product will still be the same,” Rasmussen said, “and hopefully better with the addition of young women involved in the program.”
