Scout Challenges Anti-Gay Policy of Boy Scouts of America
An Eagle Scout known for his defense of same-sex civil unions delivered on Wednesday a petition signed by 275,000 people to the Boy Scouts of America demanding an end to the group’s exclusion of gays.
Zach Wahls, a 20-year-old engineering student at the University of Iowa who attained the organization’s highest rank of Eagle Scout, has two lesbian mothers. He became an Internet sensation in January 2011 when his address to the Iowa House of Representatives supporting gay civil unions logged more than 2.5 million views on YouTube.
Dressed in full Eagle Scout regalia, he hand-delivered cardboard boxes containing 275,000 signed petitions to Boy Scouts of America leaders attending their national board meeting at Gaylord Palms, an Orlando-area resort and convention center.
The petition, challenging the century-old Scouts’ policies against gay youth and leaders, was launched April 17 by Jane Tyrrell on change.org, the web-based social change platform.
