美国童子军(Boy Scouts of America)的手册上说，童子军队员“服从社区和国家的法律；如果认为这些规定和法律不公平，需按步骤寻求改变。”

7月27日，美国童子军全国执行委员会取消了其长达105年的禁止同行恋者担任童子军队长的规定。这是基层组织多年努力的结果，其中也得到美国大公司，甚至美国总统的支持。

禁止同性恋青少年参加童子军，以及禁止同性恋成年人领导童子军军团的政策，曾经在20世纪80年代和90年代被告到地方法院，受到挑战，但大多没有成功。2000年，美国最高法院维持了童子军禁止同性恋者的政策。但十多年以后，伴随着在男女同性恋、双性恋、变性者和跨性别者（LGBTI）权利上取得的进步，那些重视童子军手册并认为童子军政策不公正的童子军成员施加了新的压力。

近期事件一览表

2012年4月1日

珍妮弗•蒂勒尔(Jennifer Tyrrell)是俄亥俄州布里奇波特市（Bridgeport, Ohio）的一名童子军队员的母亲。她因为是同性恋，而被罢免了她在儿子所在军团担任的领导职务。这一事件导致同性恋权益活动人士呼吁童子军取消禁令。它也促使前童子军成员们创立了一个倡导包容同性恋者的组织：“童子军要平等”（Scouts for Equality）。

2012年7月20日

美国童子军重申禁止同性恋成员的政策，无论是当童子军队员还是成年人担任队长。美国童子军组织表示：“我们不向公开的同性恋者或承认自己是同性恋的人授予成员资格。” 在此声明接下来的几个月里，几十名“鹰级童子军”（Eagle Scout，童子军的最高级别）退回了自己的徽章以示抗议。

2012年8月8日

竞选连任的奥巴马总统的发言人说，奥巴马“反对一切形式的歧视，并因此反对[美国童子军]基于性取向的歧视政策。” 总统的竞选对手，米特•罗姆尼（Mitt Romney），也重申了他于1994年首次表明的反对童子军这一禁令的立场。

2012年9月2日

数码科技制造商，同时也是童子军最大的企业赞助方的英特尔公司（Intel Corporation）宣布，除非童子军解除其同性恋禁令，否则将不再提供任何资助。其他公司，如美国联合包裹服务公司（United Parcel Service Inc.），以及制药公司默克公司(Merck & Co. Inc)，也取消了对童子军的支持。

2013年4月

加利福尼亚州的一个童子军委员会，因为一名少年是同性恋而拒绝批准他成为鹰级童子军的申请。在此之后，完成了鹰级童子军全部要求的马里兰州（Maryland)童子军帕斯卡尔•泰西尔（Pascal Tessier），宣布自己是同性恋，并要求童子军改变政策。泰西尔说：“我面对着一个选择，要么公开说明我的身份，要么保持沉默而获得我的鹰级童子军称号。”他表示，借助家人和军团的支持，“我是那些和我处境相同而无法发出声音的人的代言人。”

2013年2月4日

珍妮弗•蒂勒尔，帕斯卡尔•泰西尔和反对该禁令的其他人将一份得到140多万人签名、敦促结束歧视性政策的请愿书交到位于达拉斯（Dallas）的美国童子军总部。

2013年5月23日

在得克萨斯州(Texas)的一次全国会议上，童子军志愿领袖们批准了一项新政策，决定吸收公开同性恋身份的童子军，但仍禁止同性恋成年人担任童子军队长。

2015年5月21日

在一次对美国童子军全国会议上的讲话中，美国童子军会长罗伯特•盖茨（Robert Gates)敦促结束对同性恋成年人的禁令。 盖茨说：“我们不能做的一件事就是，把我们的头埋在沙子里，假装这个挑战会自行消失或缓解。这个国家正在发生变化，我们越来越有悖于州和联邦一级的法律实况。”

2015年7月27日

7月27日，美国童子军的全国执行委员会通过一项决议，取消禁止同性恋成年人担任童子军队长的规定。

Much work by many brings a shift on gay Scouts

The Boy Scouts of America handbook says a Scout “obeys the laws of his community and country. If he thinks these rules and laws are unfair, he seeks to have them changed in an orderly manner.”

On July 27, the national executive board of the Boy Scouts of America removed its 105-year-old ban on adult leaders who are gay. The decision is the result of years of effort by grass-roots organizations, drawing the support of large U.S. corporations and even the president of the United States.

The policy banning gay youth from participating in Scouting and gay adults from leading Scout troops was challenged, mostly unsuccessfully, during the 1980s and 1990s in lower courts. In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Boy Scouts’ ban on gays. But more than a decade later, amid advancements in LGBTI rights, new pressure came from Scouts who saw unfairness and took their handbook seriously.

Timeline of Recent Events

	April 1, 2012 Jennifer Tyrrell, mother of a Boy Scout in Bridgeport, Ohio, is ousted as a leader of her son’s troop because she is a lesbian. The incident leads gay-rights activists to call for the abolishment of the Scouts' ban. And it prompts alumni to found Scouts for Equality, a group advocating for inclusion of gays.
	July 20, 2012 The Boy Scouts of America reaffirms its policy barring gay members, either as Scouts or adult leaders, stating, “We do not grant membership to individuals who are open or avowed homosexuals.” In the months following this announcement, dozens of Eagle Scouts (the highest rank in Scouting) return their medals in protest.
	August 8, 2012 A spokesman for President Obama, who is running for a second term, says Obama "opposes discrimination in all forms, and as such opposes [the Boy Scouts of America's] policy that discriminates on basis of sexual orientation." The president’s opponent, Mitt Romney, repeats his opposition, first stated in 1994, to the Scouts' ban.
	September 2, 2012 Intel Corporation, a digital technology manufacturer and the Boy Scouts’ largest corporate donor, announces it will give no more funding unless the gay ban is lifted. Other corporations — such as United Parcel Service Inc., the package-delivery company, and pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. Inc. — also withdraw support for the Scouts.
	April 2013 After a Scout council in California rejects one teen's bid to become an Eagle Scout because he is gay, Maryland Scout Pascal Tessier, who has completed his Eagle requirements, announces he is gay and asks the Scouts to change the policy. “I had a choice,” Tessier says, “to publicly say who I am or just stay quiet and get my Eagle." Citing support from his family and troop, he says, "I am a voice for people in the same position who cannot speak out.”
	February 4, 2013 Jennifer Tyrrell, Pascal Tessier and others who oppose the ban deliver to the Boys Scouts of America headquarters in Dallas petitions bearing more than 1.4 million signatures urging an end to the discriminatory policy.
	May 23, 2013 At a national meeting in Texas, the Boy Scouts' volunteer leaders approve a new policy that will admit openly gay Scouts but still bar gay adults from serving as leaders in the Boy Scouts.
	May 21, 2015 In his address to the national Boy Scouts of America meeting, the organization's president, Robert Gates, urges an end to the ban on gay adults. “The one thing we cannot do is put our heads in the sand and pretend this challenge will go away or abate,” says Gates. “The country is changing, and we are increasingly at odds with the legal landscape at both the state and federal levels.”
	July 27, 2015 On July 27, the national executive board of the Boy Scouts of America approved a resolution to drop its ban on adult leaders who are gay.