In recent years, the Boy Scouts of America have become much more inclusive. They’ve removed their ruling against openly gay members and leaders, and they allow transgender boys, as well. However, the traditionally-male organization has just proposed their most drastic change yet- allowing children of any gender to join. The Boy Scouts of America have announced that by February 2019, they will be renamed Scouts of America, removing the “boy” from their name, to represent their new gender-neutral movement. We asked our Lion’s Roar staff how they feel about this change.

Editor-In-Chief, Laura Madler: “I think it’s really good for the youth of America. I think it’s more inclusive this way, and I think there are a lot of girls who felt excluded [before the change]. The Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts, though they’re the same in principle, still have very different vibes, and they do different activities. I think it’s also good that girls can now obtain the Eagle Scout rank, which has always carried more weight in society than the highest rank of Girl Scouts just because Boy Scouts have been culturally held in higher respect in the past. However, that’s also kind of a downside. Now we are not creating equality by respecting and honoring the Girl Scouts to the same extent as the Boy Scouts, but by letting girls into the male-founded organization, which is unfortunate. Overall, it’s still a good decision.”

Social Media Director, Kaitlin Pankowski: “It’s good that they no longer have gender specific places for everybody. Just let the kids do what they want. I mean, its allowing girls to not feel like they have to do just home-ec stuff. They can go camping, and do things like that. It’s important to know that.”

Clubs and Activities Editor, Ethan Matthews: “I think that it’s a great thing that they’ve done this because in the past, there’s been disputes over them not letting trans boys in. There are some boys that want to do certain things that the Girl Scouts are doing, and there are girls want to do certain things that the Boy Scouts are doing. Not all girls want to know how to sew- they want to camp. I think that it’s important that if they want to do that, they should be able to do that. I like the new name a lot: the Scouts of America, but I’m also mad how the Girl Scouts have reacted to it. They’ve been super angry that this has happened. I guess they think that the Boy Scouts are going to ‘steal’ a bunch of girls from them, but if girls wanted to do Girl Scouts in the first place, why would they join Boy Scouts?”

Staff Editor, Shelby Woodward: “I think I agree with some of my peers in that this opens up more opportunities for transgender children. I also feel that it’s a good thing because it gives girls more opportunities than they might have in the Girl Scouts. I feel in the Girl Scouts we’ve moved away from traditional and practical scouting and survival things that Girl Scouts originally taught. I think now they’ll [girls] get more of the experiences that they want out of joining Scouts. Really, overall, I don’t know how to feel about it, but so far it looks like a good thing.”