A new poll finds that the majority of Americans believe gay people should be allowed to join the Boy Scouts. Overall, 55 percent of Americans, including 63 percent of Catholics and 61 percent of women support gay people participating in Scouting. Only one third of Americans think the Boy Scouts should retain their current policy, which bans gay children and adults from the organization at all levels.
“There is a large gender gap as women support gay scouts 61 – 27 percent, compared to 49 – 39 percent among men, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds,” the university noted in a statement accompanying the poll results.
White Catholics support gay scouts 63 – 25 percent. Among white Protestants, 44 percent say open up scouting and 41 percent say no. White evangelical Protestants oppose gay scouts 56 – 33 percent.
One troubling finding for Scouting in America is that 54 percent of voters say they were Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, while only 36 percent of voters, including 55 percent of former scouts, say they have children in Scouting.
“Now that the Armed Forces ban on openly gay service members has been lifted, and polls show increasing acceptance of same-sex marriage, most American voters think it’s time to open up the Boy Scouts too,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Today, in a surprising move, the Boy Scouts of America, who last week stated they were strongly considering dropping their national ban on gays, announced they will not drop the ban right now, and deferred a planned Executive Board vote. “The approximately 1,400 voting members of the National Council will take action on the resolution at the National Annual Meeting in May 2013,” the BSA stated.
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Hat tip: Zach Ford at Think Progress