After 114 years, the Boy Scouts of America declared that it would rebrand to Scouting America in an attempt to highlight inclusivity while attempting to move beyond bankruptcy and a barrage of allegations of sexual assault.
For an institution entrenched in tradition that did not permit gay youths or girls to join its ranks until quite recently, the rebranding represents another seismic upheaval. The Irving, Texas-based nonprofit announced the name change on Tuesday during its annual conference in Florida, hoping to revive falling membership levels.
“In the next 100 years we want any youth in America to feel very, very welcome to come into our programs,” Roger Krone, who took over last fall as president and chief executive officer, told The Associated Press in an interview before the announcement.
On February 8, 2025, the formal date of the change will occur, coinciding with the 115th anniversary of the organization.
In 2013, the organization started to accept LGBT youth, and in 2015, it lifted a general ban on gay adult leaders. The groundbreaking announcement that girls would be welcomed into the flagship Boy Scout organization, now known as Scouts BSA, in 2019 and as Cub Scouts in 2018 was made in 2017. Now, more than 6,000 girls have earned the esteemed Eagle Scout designation.
The Boy Scouts and the independent Girl Scouts of the USA have recently fought over the former’s recruiting of females. When contacted on Tuesday for comment, the Girl Scouts did not reply.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a Republican, was among many who criticized the change on social media, claiming that the term “boy” would no longer exist in the name.
The pandemic made it difficult for people to join, and the Boy Scouts of America lost members as other organizations did. The organization presently serves a little over 1 million kids, including more than 176,000 girls and young women, after reaching a peak of over 2 million members in 2018. Membership reached a peak of around 5 million in 1972.
Future presidents (such as Bill Clinton and Gerald Ford), astronauts (such as Buzz Aldrin), and celebrities (such as actor Harrison Ford and director Steven Spielberg) have all been scouts over the years. According to Krone, the group has to keep drawing in new members.
“Part of my job is to reduce all the barriers I possibly can for people to accept us as an organization and to join,” he said.
Selby Chipman was among the almost 1,000 young ladies in the first class of female Eagle Scouts in 2021. In her hometown of Oak Ridge, North Carolina, the all-girls troop she was a founding member of has expanded from five girls to almost fifty, and she believes the name change will inspire even more girls to join.
“Girls were like: ‘You can join Boy Scouts of America?’” said Chipman, now a 20-year-old college student and assistant scoutmaster of her troop.
According to David Aaker, vice chairman of the national branding and marketing business Prophet, rebranding carries the danger of upsetting fans who believe the change is superfluous. However, he called the Boy Scouts’ rebranding as astute, noting that it sparks a fresh dialogue about the group without going too far from its basic scouting goals.
“It’s a one-time chance to tell a new story,” said Aaker, who also is a professor emeritus at the University of California-Berkeley Haas Business School.
The Girl Scouts of the USA sued, claiming that the decision to let girls into the Boy Scout ranks had harmed their recruitment efforts and confused the marketplace. A judge dismissed those arguments, ruling both groups are free to use terms like “scouts” and “scouting,” and they came to a settlement agreement.
Those who have previously pushed for girls to join the Boy Scouts include the National Organization for Women, which praised Tuesday’s announcement.
Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Republican from Georgia, was among those who used the term “woke” in a lot of the online criticism, saying on X that “wokeness destroys everything it touches.”
However, Lois Alvar, a 20-year-old Dallas-area Eagle Scout and assistant scoutmaster claimed that the new moniker makes all scouts feel welcome. “In general, scouting is a more safe place because it is nationally recognized that girls are welcomed and included,” the speaker stated.
The Boy Scouts were able to continue their operations and compensate the over 80,000 males who claim they were sexually molested as youths while participating in scouting because of a $2.4 billion bankruptcy reorganization plan that went into force last year.
Even though the group won’t formally change its name to Scouting America until next year, Krone stated he anticipates that people would start referring to it that way right now.
“It sends this really strong message to everyone in America that they can come to this program, they can bring their authentic self, they can be who they are and they will be welcomed here,” Krone said.
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