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Boy Scouts participation off limits to judges, says California Supreme Court By Kellan Howell - The Washington Times - Saturday, January 24, 2015 The Supreme Court of California announced Friday that California judges will no longer be permitted to participate in nonprofit youth groups like the Boy Scouts of America due to the groups position on gay rights issues. But justices have lifted a ban on judges belonging to a military organization now that LGBT people can serve openly in the U.S. Armed Services, The Bay Area Reporter reported Thursday. The court found fault with the scouting group, which does...

Robert Gates became the Boy Scouts of America’s president facing deep divisions within the organization’s membership over whether to let gays serve openly in its ranks. On Thursday, Gates finished his two-year term by arguing the Scouts had overcome that challenge and were ready to reverse years of membership declines. In a speech to Scouting leaders, the former U.S. secretary of defense defended the compromise last year to allow openly gay adult leaders to serve in the Scouts, but give churches sponsoring troops the right to use sexual orientation as a guideline for selecting leaders. …

An Assistant Boy Scout Leader in Charleston, WV was arrested for 3 counts of soliciting a minor via computer. The Kanawha County Sheriff's Department received a complaint on May 24th, 2016 from the Buckskin Council for the Boy Scouts about Kevin Michael Rogier. The Sheriff's Department learned upon investigation that Rogier was using social media site to contact three minor to solicit, entice, seduce, lure, try and revive picture and videos of sexually explicit conduct, and send pictures and videos of sexually explicit content. Rogier admitted to the Sheriff's Department that he sent sexual photographs and requested sexual photographs from...

A former Boy Scouts of America scoutmaster and Strongsville school teacher pleaded guilty this month to having sex with an adolescent boy in 1994. Oren Youngstein, 64, had sexual contact with the boy when the victim was either 14 or 15 years old, according to court records. The accusations were first reported to authorities in February last year, according to the Cuyahoga County Clerk of Courts, the same month Youngstein left his post with the Boy Scouts

A Boy Scout leader from Boonton suffered bites and scratches after being attacked by a bear while hiking at Splitrock Reservoir Sunday afternoon with three young scouts, authorities said. Christopher Petronino, 50, managed to fend off the black bear using a rock hammer after the animal pulled him into a small cave. Petronino and the scouts were later able to draw the bear out of the cave with food, Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Bob Considine said in a statement. The group had set out to hike on the trails that cover the 625-acre wilderness, and they came along the...

A Boy Scout troop leader was mauled by a bear after he and three Scouts stumbled upon the animal in northern New Jersey on Sunday, the Rockaway Township Police Department said. The three Scouts accompanying him were unharmed, officials said. The Boy Scout leader, Christopher Petronino, took the three Scouts to a cave at Split Rock Reservoir in Morris County, which is about 25 miles west of New York City. The 50-year-old had known about the cave since the 1980s but had never witnessed a bear using it before, according to CNN affiliate WCBS. When Petronino entered the cave Sunday...

They call their group "The Unicorns." The six young girls teach themselves things they didn't learn in the Girl Scouts, like building a campfire. "I got jealous of what my brother got to do because he's a Boy Scout ...," said 10-year-old Ella Jacobs. Jacobs and her friend, Allie Westover, decided they were more interested in what the boys were doing. So last fall, they started participating in activities alongside a local Boy Scout troop. "I really like competitions and I really enjoy competitive nature and also working in teams and so being in Boy Scouts gave me the opportunity...

Four months after the Boy Scouts of America made history by allowing gay adults to become leaders, its local chapter in Northern California is facing new pressure from girls, asking to become full members. They call their group "The Unicorns." The six young girls teach themselves things they didn't learn in the Girl Scouts, like building a campfire. "I got jealous of what my brother got to do because he's a Boy Scout ...," said 10-year-old Ella Jacobs. Jacobs and her friend, Allie Westover, decided they were more interested in what the boys were doing. So last fall, they started...

An ex-Boy Scout leader has been sentenced to prison for possessing child pornography. Gerrett Conover, 50, of Gloucester County has received a sentence of 20 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for the online distribution of pornographic material involving minors. Following a fivemonth investigation, Conover was arrested in September 2012 after he was stopped attempting to enter the United States from Canada. He was found to be in possession of a computer containing more than 50 images of child pornography, most of which graphically depicted sexual acts involving young boys.

BOYSTOWN — Two months after the Boy Scouts of America lifted the ban on openly gay parents and adult leaders, the Center on Halsted is poised to become the first LGBTQ community center to partner with the organization. The center, 3656 N. Halsted St., is now looking for Scout leaders and mentors for a Boy Scout pack for first- through fifth-grade students. A Girl Scout troop has been stationed at the center for three years. As the chartered organization, Center on Halsted will facilitate programming and leadership. New scouts will likely be a mix of people "drawn here because of...

A 13-year-old put his Boy Scout training to the test and helped rescue his father after he was hit by a refrigerator-sized boulder during a backpacking trip in Idaho last Monday. A week into what was supposed to be a 12-day trip at Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, a large boulder fell on David Finlayson, 52, knocking him down 20 or 30 feet, NBC affiliate KTVB reported. The elder Finlayson broke his left arm and leg. He also started to lose blood because of gash in his shin. “At first I was freaking out a little bit, but after...

SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued the following statement Wednesday from the Council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles regarding the Church’s relationship with the Boy Scouts of America: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints appreciates the positive contributions Scouting has made over the years to thousands of its young men and boys and to thousands of other youth. As leaders of the Church, we want the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to succeed in its historic mission to instill leadership skills and high moral standards in...

The Mormon church will continue to support the Boy Scouts of America despite the group’s decision to allow gay troop leaders, say church leaders. After a month of deliberation, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – which is the nation’s largest sponsor of Boy Scout units and continues to restrict gay and lesbian members from participating fully in church activities and leadership – said in a statement Wednesday that it would maintain its 102-year-old association with Scouting following the BSA’s controversial July decision to let gay men lead Scout units. The announcement, which comes after the BSA assured...

After a month of deliberation following a vote by the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America to allow openly gay Scout leaders, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that they will go forward with the faith's 102-year association with Scouting, according to a statement released Wednesday morning. The statement came from the church's Council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who said the BSA assured the church it would be able to appoint Scout leaders based on the faith's values. "In the resolution adopted on July 27, 2015, and in...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (UPI) -- Despite a July vote to end a ban on openly gay adult leaders, former gay Boy Scout leader Greg Bourke was still prohibited from being in the high ranks of a Louisville church-sponsored troop. Bourke, who was active in pushing for the legalization of same-sex unions, was told Tuesday that he could not be a Boy Scout leader for a troop in a Catholic parish named Our Lady of Lourdes. This comes after the Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board's decision on July 27 to lift its ban on openly gay adult leaders and employees,...

August 6, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) -- The pro-homosexual “marriage” group that sued to redefine marriage in Utah is preparing to establish a Boy Scout troop open to gay leaders, making the announcement just over a week after the Boy Scouts of America lifted its ban on homosexual leaders. The head of Restore Our Humanity made the announcement at a Tuesday press conference, saying that welcoming gay leaders could create new interest in the Boy Scouts and that the new Utah troop could be a model for the future. "I think it's important for us to do this now," Mark Lawrence said....

The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bismarck has ordered parishes in western North Dakota to sever sponsorship ties with the Boy Scouts of America following the group's decision to lift its ban on gay adult leaders. "I cannot permit our Catholic institutions to accept and participate directly or indirectly in any organization which has policies and methods which contradict the authoritative moral teachings of the Catholic Church," Bishop David Kagan wrote Monday in a letter to parishioners. The Boy Scouts last week ended its ban on gay adult leaders, while allowing church-sponsored Scout units to maintain the exclusion...

The BSA decided that it profited the organization to lose its soul so it could gain the world. Its punishment will be, I suspect, that it will end up without either. There has been much written about the Boy Scouts of America’s recent acceptance of openly homosexual scout masters. The organization has been raked over the coals by the right and accused of offering only a half-measure by the left. But few appreciate what the BSA has actually done — and the BSA has no idea what it has done to itself. Scouting has never been just about tying knots...

The Boy Scouts of America may experience a severe backlash from church sponsors following its recent vote to approve openly gay scout leaders. A national organization boasting over 2.6 million members, many of the BSA's more than 37,000 troops come from churches that officially state that homosexuality is a sin. These include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the United Methodist Church, and the Southern Baptist Convention. Roger S. Oldham, spokesman for the SBC, told The Christian Post that Southern Baptist churches have been cutting ties with the BSA since 2013, when the youth organization voted to allow...

On July 27, Robert M. Gates, president of the Boy Scouts of America, announced that the National Executive Board ratified a resolution ending the ban on openly gay adult leaders and employees. He admitted that the new policy was necessitated by "social, political, and legal changes," and that the "staggering cost" of more litigation was a major factor in the decision. Will this ruling put an end to the lawsuits? Not a chance. Gay militants won't stop until the religious exemptions allowed under the new policy are stricken. "Religious chartered organizations may continue to use religious beliefs as a criterion...