FACT CHECK: No, Vin Diesel Did Not Pull $1 Million Annual Donation From Boy Scouts
The post originates from an account that posts satire, according to its bio.
The Boy Scouts of America is no longer the image of Americana innocence — and it now seems that it never actually was in the first place.
The organization has announced that it is now changing its name to “Scouting America” in order to promote inclusivity and explore diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
“Can I remind America that this is an organization that has 83,000 lawsuits against them for sexual misconduct on young boys?” Jaco Booyens asks, adding, “We’re just going to change the name and welcome more dysfunction, because we are welcoming more dysfunction.”
“So, if you’re thinking of your son being in the Boy Scouts — it hasn’t existed for a long time. Pull them out. Pull them out of public school, pull them out of the Boy Scouts,” Booyens says.
The organization has also apparently sought bankruptcy protection because of all the lawsuits against it, and it had a reorganization plan that allowed it to continue its programs while compensating all of the victims.
“You have all of these people who are coming forward with these claims, which clearly have merit to them, and everyone’s just like, ‘Yeah, it’s fine, you can exist. In fact, just rename yourself Scouting America so that you can just completely hide behind that,’” Sara Gonzales says angrily.
“It should be called ‘Pedophiles Scouting America,’” Booyens chimes in.
Matthew Marsden agrees, noting that this is “the degradation of our youth, especially young men.”
“The Boy Scouts was there to prepare you to be a man,” Marsden says. “Of course, the allegations of abuse are really serious, but this a deeper thing to emasculate young men and to take away their manliness. This is what it’s about, really, to raise a generation of wimps.”
To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred take to news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Working to salvage its reputation in the wake of a multibillion-dollar sex-abuse settlement and corresponding bankruptcy, the Boy Scouts of America has once again signaled whose esteem it values.
Mike De Socio penned a piece for the Washington Post Thursday wherein he lavished praise on the BSA for staging its first-ever "affinity space for LGBTQ youth" — a massive tent erected at the heart of the Scouts' National Jamboree in Glen Jean, West Virginia.
The tent, wrote De Socio, was "decorated with a canopy of LGBTQ Pride flags and a string of multicolored lights, its tables covered with bowls of rainbow bracelets, pronoun stickers and diversity patches."
The "LGBTQ+ and allied scouts" area was one among three featured "community spaces" inside the tent. There were also spaces for "scouts of color" and "women in scouting."
De Socio intimated that the popularity of these spaces late last month among members may signal a victor in the battle between "champions of diversity and inclusion against conservatives and the religious right," at least where the BSA is concerned.
The BSA, founded in 1910, is one of the largest youth organizations in the U.S., with purportedly over 1 million youth members and 628,000 volunteers.
Its stated mission is to "prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling them the values of the Scout Oath and Law."
The Scout Oath binds scouts to do their best to do their duty "to God and [their] country and to ... help other people at all times; to keep [themselves] physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight."
In 2019, it changed its name to Scouts BSA to reflect its decision to allow girls to become scouts.
Years earlier, it ended both its prohibition on openly gay scouts as well as its ban on openly gay scout leaders and had even welcomed girls who claimed to be boys.
In recent months and years, the organization has embraced woke initiatives, evidenced by its:
During the BLM riots in 2020, the BSA announced it would require that Eagle Scouts earn a diversity and inclusion badge, force all BSA employees to undertake diversity and inclusion training, and altogether "ensure diversity and inclusion are engrained at every level for participants and volunteers."
Earlier this year, the BSA began surveying members over whether it was time to jettison century-long traditions and practices that may upset iconoclasts and activists worried about "cultural appropriation," reported NBC News.
It does not appear the BSA is done revolutionizing itself.
The Washington Post reported that thousands of kids trafficked through the LGBT activist tent at this year's BSA National Jamboree where 18-year-old River Capell, a self-declared "pansexual" scout volunteer from Northern Virginia, joined other activists in peddling advice.
"There's been days where there's 2,000 kids in this tent alone. And that is just, like, absurd," said Capell. "I've had some scouts asking genuine questions, like 'What does it mean to be this? What does it mean to be that?' ... But it was all curiosity, and how do I help, rather than [hostility]. So it's all been incredibly welcoming and positive."
While the feeling was purportedly positive, the 10-day jamboree saw a significant drop in attendance in recent years.
The group of scouts former President Donald Trump addressed in 2017 — a speech the BSA later apologized for — comprised an estimated 40,000 souls, whereas De Socio observed a crowd no bigger than 15,000 scouts and volunteers this time around.
Dwayne Fontenette Jr., DEI lead at the Jamboree, told De Socio earlier this year that the plan with the tent was to enable scouts "to engage with the DEI programming throughout the day" and "share additional resources that leaders can take home, so that they can improve the culture within their local programs."
In some of the progressive "community spaces," De Socio indicated kids could find guidance on "how to be an ally" as well acquire agitprop.
Paige Morgan, a self-identified "bisexual" who spoke to De Socio, suggested that "the people that are coming through here, like trans, nonbinary youth, the queer youth, are having a great time seeing themselves represented in a space that they love so much."
The Post indicated that Christian tents appeared far less popular this year, although that may be a result of conservatives and Christians sending their kids elsewhere for strengthening and edification.
For instance, some might turn to Trail Life USA, an explicitly Christian BSA alternative that rose to prominence in 2013 following the Scouts' announcement it would begin admitting openly gay members.
The male-only organization's stated mission is "to guide generations of courageous young men to honor God, lead with integrity, serve others, and experience outdoor adventure."
Unencumbered by a debilitating sex scandal or deference to corporate donors, Trail Life has partnered with over 1,000 churches in all 50 states and presently has north of 50,000 members.
The Columbian Squires, a youth fraternity run by the Knights of Columbus for Catholic boys ages 10 to 18, was formed nearly a century ago and presently boasts around 25,000 members.
The Squires is touted as a program "to develop young men as leaders who understand their Catholic religion, who have a strong commitment to the Church and who are ready, willing and capable of patterning their lives after the Youth Christ."
The North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists has the co-ed Adventurers, the Pathfinders, and Master Guides ministries on offer.
The Calvinist Cadet Corps, established in 1952, is another option with tens of thousands of members in the U.S., Canada, Kenya, and Uganda.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
On Thursday, Delaware Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein approved the Boy Scouts of America’s $2.46 billion reorganization plan to compensate individuals who say organization leaders sexually abused them as children. The plan will simultaneously allow the BSA to continue operating.
The ruling awaits approval from a federal district judge.
The Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy protection in February 2020 following a wave of sexual abuse lawsuits. At the time, the BSA faced 275 filed lawsuits and was aware of many other potential cases.
Approximately 80,000 men filed claims against the BSA, alleging that they had been abused as children by the organization’s leaders and volunteers.
As part of the reorganization plan, the BSA must establish a fund for survivors, the Associated Press reported. Local councils, insurance companies, and troop sponsoring organizations will also be expected to contribute to the fund. Any future child abuse lawsuits related to the BSA will receive compensation through the fund for survivors, and the groups will be shielded from further litigation.
The amount a victim receives depends on several factors related to the abuse, reported lawyers for some of the survivors.
Attorney Jeff Anderson’s firm represented more than 800 alleged abuse survivors. He reported that most of the $2.46 billion would be paid to the victims, but it would likely take several months before the compensation is dispersed.
“Credit to the courageous survivors that this breakthrough in child and scouting safety has been achieved,” Anderson stated.
The attorney explained that not all of his clients would be receiving compensation. Anderson said his clients felt that in some states, the organization “hid behind the statute of limitations.”
Some of the BSA’s insurers agreed to settlements, while others did not. Attorneys for the insurers thought that the barrage of lawsuits was an indication of fraud. They argued that attorneys had aggressively solicited clients to cash in on claims. The attorneys also argued that distributing compensation through the survivor fund would violate contractual rights to contest the claims.
The BSA reported that some parties have expressed that they plan to appeal the order. The organization hopes the appeal process will “allow survivors to be equitably compensated and preserve the mission of Scouting for future generations.”
“We continue to be enormously grateful to the survivor community, whose bravery, patience, and willingness to share their experiences has been instrumental in the formation of this Plan,” said the BSA.
Back in 2015, the Boy Scouts of America organization officially ended its blanket ban on gay participants in an effort to accord with the spirit of the Obergefell Supreme Court decision, which, at the time, had just effectively legalized gay marriage throughout the United States. Now in 2022, some members of a Seattle-area BSA unit have participated in a local pride parade celebration.
On Sunday, young scouts joined the annual Seattle Pride parade, carrying a mix of American and rainbow pride flags to demonstrate their support for the local LGBTQ+ community. Breitbart reports that the scouts may have even been the first group to march in the parade, leading a series of LGBTQ+-affiliated groups that also included ardent pro-abortion advocates and even some naked male cyclists.
The scouts' participation in the pride event indicates that BSA has veered sharply away from its Christian roots and toward more secular values. Just a decade ago, BSA was embroiled in controversy for excluding gay scouts and scout leaders. Many local chapters were chartered with religious organizations, which often forbade homosexuality, as well as all extramarital sexual acts.
That all changed after Obergefell. Citing that “sea change in the law with respect to gay rights,” National BSA Executive Board members voted overwhelmingly in July 2015 to end the organization's ban on gay members. In early 2017, BSA began allowing transgender male youth into boys-only programs, and the rule banning biological girls from joining Cub Scouts was jettisoned later that year. As a result of these membership changes, Boy Scouts of America officially rebranded itself as "Scouts BSA" in February 2019.
Many foresaw this evolution in BSA membership and values when former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was named president of BSA in 2014. Gates is largely credited with undoing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that governed the United States military for 17 years. In 2015, Gates described the BSA ban on homosexual participants as "unsustainable."
Despite this seismic shift toward LGBTQ+ "diversity and inclusion," BSA still retains a faith-based identity. All scouts and scout leaders are required to subscribe to the Scout Oath, which still pledges loyalty to God and country and requires each pledger to "keep myself morally straight." Straight here makes no reference to sexual orientation. Rather it implies that scouts adhere to the Scout Law, which among other things, requires reverence toward God, fulfilling "religious duties," and respecting the religious beliefs of others.
And at least in principle, Scouts BSA permits local units, which may be affiliated with religious organizations, to establish their own membership criteria. They may even exclude openly gay scout leaders, a move that BSA says "respects the right of religious chartered organizations to continue to choose adult leaders whose beliefs are consistent with their own."
But for now, if such traditional units still exist, they remain in the shadows. Meanwhile the BSA members who participated in the Seattle Pride parade have gone viral on social media, and Seattle Pride has even included a picture of the group on its homepage. Fair or unfair, the scouts in the pride parade have become the current face of Scouts BSA, even as membership numbers continue to decline.
Attorneys involved in the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy case have reached a settlement that would require one of the organization's largest insurers to contribute $800 million to a fund for victims of child sex abuse.
The national BSA organization filed bankruptcy last February in an effort to halt lawsuits against the organization from former scouts who were allegedly victims of sexual abuse.
Century Indemnity Co. and all affiliated companies will give $800 million to a fund for victims of child sex abuse in exchange for being released from any further liability concerning claims of sexual abuse. The payment from Century Indemnity Co., which was announced Monday, would be the largest sexual abuse settlement in U.S. history and would make the total amount of money in the trust more than $2.6 billion, according to the Associated Press.
The settlement has been reached as more than 82,000 individuals with sexual abuse claims must vote on the BSA's restructuring plan by December 28, according to the Associated Press.
BSA announced in July of this year that it would give assets valued at $250 million to the trust supporting survivors of abuse and asked local councils to give $500 million to the trust, according to the BSA restructuring website. Additionally, an updated version of the plan announced in September of this year says that the two large insurers of the BSA have reached agreements concerning their settlements.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the Hartford have agreed to contribute money to BSA's sexual abuse settlement provided that they are released from further liability regarding sexual abuse claims. The Mormon Church agreed to contribute $250 million to the trust for victims of abuse, and the Hartford agreed on the contribution of $778 million, according to the plan.
If approved in court, the Century settlement would provide additional funds to the trust, including $40 million from local councils as well as an additional $100 million from the national BSA and local councils. The additional commitment can be attributed to growth in membership as a result of charter organizations continuing to sponsor local scouting units, according to the Associated Press.
“This is an extremely important step forward in the BSA’s efforts to equitably compensate survivors, and our hope is that this will lead to further settlement agreements from other parties, said the BSA organization in a statement, according to the Associated Press.
A Message from Eagle Scout and Survivor Jason Lee www.youtube.com
Nearly 100,000 people purporting to be sexual abuse victims have come forward to accuse Boy Scouts of America scout leaders of abuse, according to a report from The Telegraph.
The purported abuse took places over "decades," according to the report.
Paul Mones, a lawyer working on related cases for approximately 20 years, said, "It's by far the largest sexual abuse scandal in the U.S."
Mones pointed out that the organization provided a "perfect Petri dish" for pedophiles.
"Boys have taken an oath of loyalty, they are away from their parents, in the wilderness," he explained.
The Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy in February, according to the outlet, "in an effort to block settlement claims from hitting the organization directly and instead funneled them to a compensation fund."
CNN reported that one of the lead attorneys for the legal team representing the claimants said that the organization "will be facing at least 92,700 claims of sexual abuse."
The figure, according to the outlet, came from bankruptcy court according to attorney Andrew Van Arsdale.
"Based on what we are hearing from survivors, sexual abuse was a rite of passage in troops across the country, similar to other tasks where children had to ... perform certain duties to earn their coveted merit badges," Van Arsdale added.
In a February letter to those people purporting to be victims of child sex abuse, BSA National Chairman Jim Turley wrote that the organization's bankruptcy filing was intended to ensure the organization "is able to equitably compensate all the victims of abuse."
"The BSA cannot undo what happened to you, but we are committed to supporting you and to doing everything in our power to prevent it from happening to others," Turley wrote.
Mones told Axios that he is calling for a congressional inquiry into the scandal.
Gill Gayle, a 58-year-old man who purports to be victim, told CNN, "I'm not pleased that there's that many men this has happened to. I am glad this many reports is grabbing people's attention and will prevent other children from being assaulted like we were."
A spokesperson for the Boy Scouts of America told the outlet, "We are devastated by the number of lives impacted by past abuse in scouting and moved by the bravery of those who have come forward. We are heartbroken that we cannot undo their pain."