The Boy Scouts are no more. According to USA Today, the revered program announced it would be dropping “boy” from its name after 108 years.
Boy Scouts of America will retain its name, but its titular program, “Boy Scouts,” which for more than a century served boys between the ages of 10-17, will become Scouts USA. The program for 7-10 year olds will continue to be called Cub Scouts, because it is a gender neutral title, the newspaper reports.
Matt Walsh, a columnist for the Daily Wire, writes the decision was “the inevitable last step in a devolution that began when the Boy Scouts gave up its spine.”
The scouting program’s recent history is littered with capitulation. Its leaders recently announced they would add programming for girls and then they announced they would accept transgender youths. That was after lifting a ban on gay Scout leaders.
“The Boy Scouts thought it could satiate leftists by revoking its prohibition on gay scouts. All it did was whet their appetites. It showed weakness; it dripped a little blood in the water, and the feeding frenzy began,” Walsh excoriates the organization. “If you show any susceptibility, you will not be left alone until you have been completely torn down and annihilated.”
It appears the name-change efforts are in hopes of attracting new members, but it looks as if the changes are having the opposite affect. USA Today reports Boy Scouts of America boasted 2.6 million members five years ago. Now they’re down to 2.3 million from a one-time high of 4 million.
Though opening the ranks to girls and the gender-confused, the BSA officials said most programs will be divided by gender with participants in each gender group doing similar activities.
Girl Scouts officials said the Boy Scouts aren’t offering ‘girl specific’ programs. Meanwhile, Girl Scouts will continue to be the “first choice for girls and parents.”
