August 6, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) — The pro-homosexual “marriage” group that sued to redefine marriage in Utah is preparing to establish a Boy Scout troop open to gay leaders, making the announcement just over a week after the Boy Scouts of America lifted its ban on homosexual leaders.
The head of Restore Our Humanity made the announcement at a Tuesday press conference, saying that welcoming gay leaders could create new interest in the Boy Scouts and that the new Utah troop could be a model for the future.
“I think it's important for us to do this now,” Mark Lawrence said.
They intend to complete an application soon and look to have a troop going by the fall, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Restore Our Humanity was formed to strike down Utah’s marriage protection law, Amendment 3. The group filed a lawsuit in the pursuit of this, identifying lawyers and homosexual couples to be plaintiffs in the litigation responsible for the 2013 overturning of the law.
“For a healthy society to prosper and move forward, communities and the organizations attached to them must abandon exclusion and prejudices,” the group’s statement on the proposed new homosexual-friendly Boy Scout troop said. “The Boy Scouts of America has moved our society just a little closer to that end.”
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Restore Our Humanity estimated that 95 percent of Utah’s Boy Scout troops are sponsored by the Mormon Church, and contended that the numbers show “there is a significant population of young people that are left behind and neglected.”
Lawrence said getting the troop approved and running may be “an uphill battle in the conservative state where most troops are sponsored by the Mormon Church,” the Salt Lake Tribune report said.
The Boy Scouts made the announcement July 27 that it would no longer prohibit homosexual leaders, in a much-expected decision that followed a 2013 reversal on the Boy Scouts’ ban of homosexual members.
The Boy Scouts stated that faith-based troops could still select their leaders based on their religious beliefs, however the statement did not specifically state that religiously-affiliated troops would not be compelled to accept leaders who identify as gay, leaving some religious leaders wary.
More than 70 percent of Boy Scout troops chartered in the U.S. are sponsored by religious organizations, and a large percentage of those are sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church).
The Mormon Church issued a statement July 27 saying the church was “deeply troubled” by the decision to allow homosexual leaders, and it would be reexamining its association with the Boy Scouts later this month.
“The admission of openly gay leaders is inconsistent with the doctrines of the Church and what have traditionally been the values of the Boy Scouts of America,” the Mormons added.