More than 1,400 Boy Scout leaders traveled to Grapevine, Texas on Thursday to vote on whether or not they will overturn the ban on openly gay youths' participation in the organization, according to USA Today.
The two-day long meeting began rife with emotion on both sides of the argument: dozens of conservative Christians dressed in their scout uniforms holding signs that said "No," "Save Our Scouts," and "Keep Scouts Morally Straight," a nod to the Scout oath that includes the line, "On my honor I will do my best...to keep myself physically strong, mentally alert and morally straight."
"We're trying to uphold traditional values," Bill Lizzio, a scout leader from Tennessee, told the New York Times.
Enraged parents claimed they would remove their children from the boy scouts if the rule was changed, saying they would never let them share a tent with a gay boy.
Meanwhile, Boy Scout members who want to oust the exclusionary rule, including Jennifer Tyrrell of Ohio, gathered to speak.
Tyrrell, 33, was the treasurer of her son's Cub Scout troop before she was forced to step down in 2012, due to her sexual orientation as a lesbian.
She attended a meeting in Dallas on Wednesday, saying that both she and her song enjoyed scouting and left the organization with heavy hearts.
"They're training these boys to go out into the world and be leaders. But the world is ever changing, ever accepting, even inclusive," she said. "If they don't change with it, they're going to fizzle out."
The Boy Scouts of America have existed for more than a century as a traditional organization, a symbol of the good of the United States.
But since last year, when steadily rising public acknowledgement and acceptance of homosexuality butted heads with Boy Scout rules, members of the scouts have been divided by their opinions.
Some Boy Scouts resigned, turning in their medals because they did not want to participate in a program that was unaccepting of gay people.
Others rallied harder for the organization, saying the tenets of tradition upon which the Boy Scouts stand should be maintained.
Boy Scouts executives knew they had to do something to fill the rift the rule had created. They decided to allow members to cast their vote on whether or not to overturn the ban, allowing gay youths membership, but still keeping the door closed for gay adults to apply for positions as troop leaders.
"Allowing openly gay scouts will mean the blunt injection of hypersexuality and gay activism into a young organization," John Stemberger, head of the evangelical Florida Family Policy Council, told the New York Times.
21-year-old Eagle Scout Zach Wahls, who was brought up by lesbian mothers, said Mr. Stemberger's comments were absurd.
"Being open doesn't mean waving a rainbow flag or advancing some agenda," he said. "It means that two gay parents can feel comfortable going to their son's Eagle Scout Court of Honor."
The Boy Scout Leaders hope to reach a decision by the end of Friday.
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