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Boy Scouts Determined To Continue Ban On Gays After Secret Study

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The Boy Scouts of America say their discriminatory policy “allows the organization to most efficiently accomplish its mission of focusing on interests and perspectives that are held in common.”

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has just announced it has concluded a secret, never-before revealed “study,” and is resolved that gay people should continue to be banned from any association with the century-old organization. Outgoing Boy Scouts head Rex Tillerson is the CEO of Exxon-Mobile, a corporation that has the lowest rating possible by HRC: -25.

READ: Boy Scouts Keep Ban On Gays — Equality Organizations React

“After careful consideration of a resolution asking the Boy Scouts of America to reconsider its longstanding membership standards policy, today the organization affirmed its current policy, stating that it remains in the best interest of Scouting and that there will be no further action taken on the resolution,” Boy Scouts of America said via a statement:

“The vast majority of the parents of youth we serve value their right to address issues of same-sex orientation within their family, with spiritual advisers, and at the appropriate time and in the right setting,” said Bob Mazzuca, Chief Scout Executive, Boy Scouts of America. “While a majority of our membership agrees with our policy, we fully understand that no single policy will accommodate the many diverse views among our membership or society.”

Following the recommendation to affirm the BSA’s membership policy, the executive committee of the BSA National Executive Board released the following statement: “Scouting believes that good people can personally disagree on this topic and still work together to achieve the life-changing benefits to youth through Scouting. While not all Board members may personally agree with this policy, and may choose a different direction for their own organizations, BSA leadership agrees this is the best policy for the organization and supports it for the BSA.”

In email and telephone conversations with the Boy Scouts of America today, The New Civil Rights Movement asked a variety of questions but received little more than this statement:

Scouting is not the place to resolve divergent viewpoints in society. Scouting believes same-sex attraction should be introduced and discussed outside of its program with parents, caregivers, or spiritual advisers, at the appropriate time and in the right setting.  The BSA’s policy is right for the organization because it allows the organization to most efficiently accomplish its mission of focusing on interests and perspectives that are held in common.

The Scouts were quick to note, however, that the decision to continue the ban was not made by Rex Tillerson.

The Boy Scouts did not respond immediately to the following questions related to the statement they released today announcing the ban would continue:

How does the BSA or Bob Mazzuca know what the majority “values” or “agrees with”? Has there been a national/international poll directly questioning the membership on the gay ban?

The statement also says that the “membership standards policy,” aka a ban on LGBT people at all levels of the BSA, “remains in the best interest of Scouting,” yet there is no explanation of how it “remains in the best interest of Scouting,” or how removing the ban on gay people would not be “in the best interest of Scouting.”

Also, the statement says there was “a nearly two-year-long examination,” yet no one has ever mentioned this examination previously. Why? Also, why were people with specific expertise in these matters not invited to be part of the study/examination? Wouldn’t it be the smart thing to do, to bring in outside experts?

When did the examination conclude, what were its specific findings, and will they be released to the public?

(Note: We’ll update this story if the BSA decides to respond.)

Recently, two executive board members of the Boy Scouts publicly endorsed having LGBT people allowed into the BSA. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, and Ernst & Young CEO James Turley have both stood up and said the ban on gay people in the Boy Scouts of America should be lifted.

In 2000, the BSA won a Supreme Court case that ruled private organizations, like the Scouts, are allowed to decide what policies it uses to determine membership.

The Dallas Voice, last week, in a lengthy exploration into discrimination by the Boy Scouts, noted:

The incoming BSA president is Wayne Perry, who is retired from McCaw Cellular, which became a part of Dallas-based AT&T — a company that receives the highest possible score from HRC.

Finally, there is a movement gaining momentum. Via a Change.org press release today:

Eagle Scout Zach Wahls and Ohio mom Jennifer Tyrrell, who was ousted as her son’s den leader in April and launched a Change.org petition attracting 300,000 signatures, responded today after Boy Scouts of America officials told the Associated Press that a secret committee had decided it will continue to maintain the ban on gay scouts and gay scout leaders.

“This announcement is old news. We’ve heard this line before, and I’m sure they’ll keep saying this until the day they decide to change the policy. This announcement, moreover this ‘process,’ is just a distraction. We know where this is headed,” said Wahls, who recently launched Scouts for Equality to overturn the ban. “Above all, what is most disappointing about today’s announcement is the secretive nature surrounding how this conclusion was reached. The very first value of the Scout Law is that a Scout is trustworthy. There is absolutely nothing trustworthy about unelected and unnamed committee members who are unwilling to take responsibility for their actions.”

…

On Wednesday, July 18, Tyrrell and her 7-year-old son Cruz, formerly a Cub Scout, will deliver more than 300,000 signatures and comments — from the Change.org petition started by Tyrrell — to the Boy Scouts of America’s national headquarters in Dallas.

Tyrrell hopes Boy Scout leaders will meet with her for the first time and accept the signatures as well as consider reinstating her as den leader so her son can resume scouting. Tyrrell’s previous attempts to meet with BSA have been rejected. As a result, Wahls — a prominent Eagle Scout, advocate for the LGBT community, and leader of “Scouts for Equality” — delivered 275,000 of the petitions on behalf of Tyrrell to BSA at an Orlando conference on May 30.

Buzzfeed adds:

Wayne Besen, the executive director of Truth Wins Out, which tracks anti-gay religious activity, blamed the influence of Christian groups. The Boy Scouts “are influenced heavily by the Latter Day Saints church and Southern Baptists. Until the influence of these groups wanes, a new policy is doubtful, if not wishful thinking,” he said.

Wahls made the case that religious values should favor inclusion.

“In the Boy Scouts, I learned about the importance of religious respect. I learned and grew alongside Christians, Jews, Muslims and Hindus,” he said. “Regardless of your thoughts on homosexuality, surely we can agree that gay people who serve our troops and communities deserve our respect and gratitude.”

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‘Do What Leaders Do’: Dem Leader Scorches ‘Missing in Action’ Trump

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October 28, 2025

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House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blasted President Donald Trump for being “missing in action” and not acting like a leader as the federal government shutdown entered its twenty-eighth day.

Senate Democrats are demanding negotiations with Republican Majority Leader John Thune to find a way to restore the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, without which millions of Americans will lose health care coverage, and even more could see premiums skyrocket. Republicans are refusing to negotiate unless Democrats first vote to reopen the government.

“Convene the appropriators,” Jeffries insisted, referring to the budget committee.

“Do what leaders do in moments like this, as opposed to being missing in action now for 28 days, while finding $40 billion to bail out a right-wing, wannabe dictator in Argentina, and destroying the historic parts of the White House in real time, so that he can construct a ballroom, where he will be celebrated like a wannabe king,” the Democratic Leader said.

READ MORE: ‘We Can Do as We Want’: Trump Boasts He Can Deploy Troops Into U.S. Cities However He Likes

“This is all outrageous stuff.”

“And the American people see it unfolding before their very eyes, and they know that Donald Trump and Republicans have not been serious about doing what is necessary to enact a spending agreement that actually improves the quality of life of hardworking American taxpayers.”

Also on Tuesday, Politico reported that Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy had suggested “that a Trump administration effort to scrounge together money to pay air traffic controllers during the federal shutdown is dead.”

“Duffy said he had examined the FAA’s budget to see if he could find any available funds, but ‘there’s not a lot of leeway that we have to get people paid.'”

READ MORE: Trump Admin Blames Dems’ Immigration and Trans Policies for Food Stamp Shut Off

Jeffries’ remarks came around the same time as Vice President JD Vance told reporters, after attending the weekly GOP luncheon, that the White House has found a way to pay the troops again, as Punchbowl News’ Max Cohen reported.

Bobby Kogan, the senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress, responded to President Trump paying the troops:

“Huge contrast with illegally refusing to make SNAP payments. What we’re seeing from the White House is them moving heaven and earth to pay what they want to pay, even if it’s illegal — and moving heaven and earth to NOT pay what they don’t want to pay, even if it’s illegal.”

READ MORE: ‘Refrain From Any Action’: Congressional Vets Warn Trump on Using Troops Against Americans

 

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‘He Wants the Pain’: Former GOP Congressman Blasts Trump’s ‘Sadism Dressed Up as Politics’

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13 hours ago

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October 28, 2025

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Republican former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger sharply condemned President Donald Trump and his onetime GOP colleagues, accusing the president of “sadism” for refusing to release what experts say are legally mandated funds to sustain food stamp payments once they’re cut off on November 1.

Warning that “millions of Americans will stop receiving food stamps” if Congress does not act, Kinzinger explained that “mothers won’t be able to buy groceries. Veterans won’t be able to feed their families. Children will go hungry — not because of some natural disaster or accident of bureaucracy, but because our leaders made a deliberate choice.”

“I’ve been in Congress,” he wrote. “I’ve sat in those rooms where politicians calculate pain — where they decide that hurting ordinary Americans might be good for their ‘message.'”

READ MORE: Johnson Says Trump ‘Trolling’ on Major Constitutional Question

Indeed, on Tuesday afternoon, Politico reported that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson told his GOP conference to sit tight as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food stamps shutoff hits.

“‘Things are getting real’ this week,” Johnson said, as Politico noted, adding that “he braced his members for some of the worst real-world fallout of the shutdown so far.”

Johnson “urged Republicans to stay in lockstep as ‘pressure mounts on Democrats’ — including key deadlines that will impact millions of low-income Americans.”

“’The pain register is about to hit level 10,’ Johnson said, adding that ‘sadly’ 42 million Americans will be hit this weekend when Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits run out of money.”

Kinzinger pointed out that President Trump “has a choice” in this.

READ MORE: Trump Admin Blames Dems’ Immigration and Trans Policies for Food Stamp Shut Off

“He can use emergency funds to keep food assistance flowing while negotiations continue. He could say, ‘Not on my watch will people go hungry.’ But he isn’t. He is choosing not to — because he wants the pain. He wants the headlines. He wants to point to struggling families and say, ‘Blame the Democrats.'”

“That’s not leadership,” the former lawmaker lamented. “That’s sadism dressed up as politics.”

Expressing anger over Trump’s $300 million ballroom, and possible $250 million Department of Justice settlement for being investigated, Kinzinger said, “I’ve seen what shutdowns do.”

“I’ve seen families line up at food pantries because their pay got delayed. I’ve heard from single parents who rely on SNAP to get through the week. These are not ‘lazy’ people. They’re workers — often working full-time — who still fall below the poverty line because the system rewards wealth, not work.”

He added that “what government is supposed to do” is “protect its citizens in hard times. Not turn hunger into a political weapon.”

Denouncing the “moral bankruptcy” of congressional Republicans and President Trump, Kinzinger wrote, “When you see a president who intentionally withholds help to make a point, you’re seeing the moral rot that now defines the GOP. The cruelty isn’t a side effect — it’s the strategy.”

READ MORE: Data Analyst Reveals Which Trump Policy Faces Sharpest Backlash Among Americans

 

Image via Reuters

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Johnson Says Trump ‘Trolling’ on Major Constitutional Question

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15 hours ago

on

October 28, 2025

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President Donald Trump has repeatedly talked about running for a third term, but Speaker of the House Mike Johnson does not appear to be taking him very seriously.

“I would love to do it,” Trump recently told reporters.

“Trump again declines to rule out unconstitutional third term,” Axios reported on Monday, adding: “Trump has said he’s ‘not joking’ about a third term.”

The U.S. Constitution is clear.

“The 22nd Amendment plainly states that no one can be elected president more than twice,” The New York Times reported.

READ MORE: Trump Admin Blames Dems’ Immigration and Trans Policies for Food Stamp Shut Off

Trump’s allies have also been pushing for a third term.

Steve Bannon, in particular, has recently said they are looking at ways to have him run in 2028.

“Trump is going to be president in ’28,” Bannon said. “At the appropriate time, we’ll lay out what the plan is.”

Asked on Tuesday about the President running for a third term, the Speaker of the House, a constitutional attorney, appeared to smirk before pushing back.

“Well, there is the 22nd Amendment,” Johnson told reporters. “I spoke with the president about an hour ago. It’s late in the evening in Japan. He’s working around the clock, serving the American people.”

After rattling off a list of how the Republican Party under Trump has “delivered,” while neglecting to mention that the federal government has been shut down for four weeks, Johnson added: “It’s been a great run, but I think the president knows, and he and I have talked about the constrictions of the Constitution.”

READ MORE: ‘We Can Do as We Want’: Trump Boasts He Can Deploy Troops Into U.S. Cities However He Likes

“As much as so many American people lament that, the ‘Trump 2028’ cap is one of the most popular that’s ever been produced,” he observed. “And he has a good time with that trolling the Democrats, whose hair is on fire, about the very prospect.”

“I do believe that we’ve got three extraordinary years ahead of us,” he projected. “And, I don’t see a way to amend the Constitution, because it takes about ten years to do that, as you all know, to allow all the states to ratify, what — two-thirds of the House and three-fourths of the states would approve.”

“So, I don’t see the path for that, but I can tell you that we are not going to take our foot off the gas pedal,” he insisted. “He’ll have four strong years.”

READ MORE: ‘Refrain From Any Action’: Congressional Vets Warn Trump on Using Troops Against Americans

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