Gay scouts and leaders protest at Boy Scouts of America headquarters in Irving in 2013. (David Taffet/Dallas Voice)

Irving-based Boy Scouts of America has filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The Boy Scouts have been on the decline for the last 10 years since it fought non-discrimination charges brought by gay scouts and LGBT scout leaders. That fight was completely tied up in the organization’s pedophile problem.

Records obtained by Dallas Voice at the time showed that the organization’s homophobia stood in the way of protecting scouts. When Eagle Scouts who had come out volunteered to be troop leaders, they were banned. When random men who had no history with the Boy Scouts showed up, they were accepted as leaders. Many of those men turned out to be pedophiles.

Rather than welcome LGBT scout leaders and gay scouts and protect all scouts from predators, the Boy Scouts used its resources to discriminate. One of the main reasons it expended all of its energy discriminating against LGBT scouts and volunteers was pandering to the Mormon Church, which sponsored its largest number of troops. Recently, the church pulled all of its troops out of the Boy Scouts.

New lawsuits against the organization prompted the bankruptcy. In many states, the statute of limitations was extended for sexual assault cases as a result of the Me Too movement.

The Boy Scouts current policy on LGBT discrimination is that local troops can decide whether to welcome gay scouts and LGBT scout leaders or not.

— David Taffet

After publishing our story, the Boy Scouts of America contacted us and asked if we’d include the following information. Happy to:

The national organization of the BSA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to equitably compensate victims while ensuring Scouting continues across the country. Below please find a few critical points for your reference:

  1. Scouting programs will continue throughout this process and for many years to come.  Local Councils are not filing for bankruptcy as they are legally separate and distinct organizations.
  2. The BSA cares deeply about all victims of abuse and sincerely apologizes to anyone who was harmed during their time in Scouting.
  3. We issued an Open Letter to Victimswhich is online now and will run as a full-page ad in USA Today on Wednesday, February 19th.
  4. The BSA partnered with 1in6, a trusted national resource for male survivors, so that victims of abuse are able to anonymously access vital support from trained advocates when and how they need it.
  5. Scouting is safer now than ever before: approximately 90% of pending and asserted abuse claims against the BSA relate to abuse that occurred more than 30 years ago.