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.
A Boy Scout troop in Alabama reminds us of all the good the organization still does, despite scandals and self-inflicted controversies that led to bankruptcy and a precipitous loss of members.
www.theblaze.com
freebeacon.com