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The Boy Scouts of America settled a sex abuse case Thursday involving a 20-year-old California man who was molested by a Scout volunteer in 2007 — a decision that will keep years’ worth of “perversion” files detailing sex abuse allegations secret from the public. The announcement of the settlement in the Santa Barbara case came after three days of trial. The terms were confidential at the Boy Scouts’ request, said Tim Hale, the plaintiff’s attorney. “I can’t go into details about the number, but it was a great result,” Hale said. Hale had won the right to use the “perversion”...

California judges will no longer be allowed to participate in nonprofit youth groups, such as the Boy Scouts of America, that discriminate against LGBT people. At the same time the justices lifted a ban on judges belonging to a military organization now that gays and lesbians can serve openly in the U.S. Armed Services. The change comes as transgender individuals are still barred from becoming service members, though the policy is reportedly under review. In the case of the scouting group, although it now allows out youth to belong, it continues to ban LGBT adults from serving as troop leaders.

DALLAS (Reuters) - Membership in the Boy Scouts of America took a steeper tumble during 2014, the first year under a policy that allows openly gay youth to participate, than in recent years of a decade-long decline. About 2.4 million youth participated in the nearly 105-year-old Texas-based scouting program, representing a 7.4 percent decline over 2013 enrollment of 2.6 million youth, Boy Scout officials said in a statement on Friday. Enrollment declined by about 6 percent in 2013. BSA officials said that decreasing participation is a trend that most youth organizations are facing. "There are many factors that go into...

Noah Cornuet was a gentle giant and the ultimate Boy Scout. He was so committed to scouting that he was determined to ascend to the highest rank any Boy Scout could achieve: Eagle Scout. Noah, 16, never realized his dream. On Aug. 6, the high school athlete from Lower Burrell, Pa., collapsed after football practice and died. It was later revealed that Noah had a rare heart tumor. He’d had no symptoms and there was no indication that he had a heart condition, his family said. At the time of his death, Noah was deeply involved in his Eagle scout...

PARK CITY — A teacher at Parley's Park Elementary and area Boy Scout leader is accused of possessing child pornography. Jose Maria Ardanaz Ezcurdia, 31, was charged Monday in Summit County's 3rd District Court with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.

LYCOMING COUNTY— Matthew Manning, 38, of Hughesville is accused of having and disseminating child porn. He was arrested Thursday. Manning is a science teacher at Muncy Junior/Senior High School in Lycoming County. “Very uncomfortable, considering I just had him, like a month ago in school and he was teaching these kids. I think he had a 7th grade class and anyone under 17, just to hear it is weird,” said Muncy High School senior Maurice Brown. Parents with students in the district were concerned by the news, too. “You know you see people every day and you just never know...

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that the Irving-based Boy Scouts of America perpetuates “the worst stereotypes” by barring gay people from becoming Scout leaders. “The continuation of a policy that discriminates against gay adult leaders — by an iconic American institution — only preserves and perpetuates the worst kind of stereotypes,” Holder said in a speech to the gay civil rights group Lambda Legal in Washington. Holder did not announce any legal action against the Boy Scouts. A Supreme Court decision 14 years ago said the Scouts, as a private entity, had a right to discriminate against...

IRVING, TX, May 27, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who led the military to end Don't Ask, Don't Tell, says that he would have allowed homosexual leaders for Boy Scouts of America. Gates, who was elected to head the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) for a two-year term last week, said that he "would have supported having gay Scoutmasters, but at the same time, I fully accept the decision that was democratically arrived at by 1,500 volunteers from across the entire country." A year ago, BSA allowed openly homosexual scouts for the first time. The policy reads...

Millions this weekend celebrated the unofficial start of summer honoring those who gave their lives in war, and Memorial Day transcended generations at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. That’s where Joseph Brunson, 7, bypassed barbecues and swimming pools and took time out of his weekend to place flowers on the graves of our fallen heroes. The nonprofit group “Remember Heroes” places floral arrangements at the grave sites of local war dead each year. Joseph heard about a volunteer project at his Cub Scout meeting. The boy told the CBS Dallas affiliate that he wanted to volunteer his time alongside his...

Robert Gates as selected as the new president of the Boy Scouts of America. Robert, an Eagle Scout in his youth and former Secretary of Defense, was elated with the selection. Robert stated that he was pleased that queers were welcomed in the boy scouts but was severely displeased that adult predatory queers were not allowed to serve as scout masters and leaders. During his tenure as Secretary of Defense, Robert has queerified the military which he counted as one of his major accomplishments which he would like to replicate with the Boy Scouts. Robert noted that with many predatory...

This is an excerpt of Dr. Gates' 26 page, 27 minute speech in which he speaks to the membership issue. 20 … FINALLY, LET ME ADDRESS THE MEMBERSHIP ISSUE, AN ISSUE THAT HAS LEFT US DIVIDED, DISTRACTED AND DEFENSIVE. A YEAR AGO, THIS MEETING SAW A RESPECTFUL AND CIVIL DEBATE OVER MEMBERSHIP POLICY. IN A DEMOCRATIC PROCESS, A STRONG MAJORITY OF THE VOLUNTEER LEADERSHIP OF THIS MOVEMENT FROM ALL ACROSS THE NATION VOTED TO WELCOME GAY YOUTH INTO SCOUTING. IN ALL CANDOR, I WOULD HAVE 21 SUPPORTED GOING FURTHER, AS I DID IN OPENING THE WAY FOR GAYS TO SERVE...

DALLAS (Reuters) - As former Defense Secretary Robert Gates is set to head the Boy Scouts of America, many are wondering if the official who helped end the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy will also lift the scout's ban on gay adult leaders. The century-old Texas-based organization kicked off its annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday as questions lingered over its decision last year to allow gay scouts in its ranks but bar them from adult leadership posts. Gates, a former CIA director, will succeed Boy Scouts President Wayne Perry, who led the group through the emotionally...

NEW YORK (AP) — A slice of the New York City area mainstream — a police officer, a fire department paramedic, a rabbi, a nurse, a Boy Scout leader — used the Internet to anonymously collect and trade child pornography, federal officials said Wednesday. The six were among at least 70 men and one woman charged in a five-week operation by the Homeland Security Investigations arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Federal officials, who planned to announce the arrests a news conference later Wednesday, call it one of the largest local roundups ever of people who collect images of...

China has built an offshore oil drilling rig, numbered HD-981, specifically for the purpose invalidating other nations’ claims to seabed they thought was theirs. There is no doubt about the purpose of the rig given that a Chinese state oil company official once called it “our mobile national territory.” Its primary purpose isn’t commercial. If China can drill an oil well on some other country’s seabed, they can then claim that it was China’s territory all along. The rig is having its first outing to that purpose off the coast of Vietnam, accompanied by 86 Chinese vessels including a submarine....

Pedophile teacher abused scores as clues missed He was one of the most beloved teachers in the small world of international schools that serve the children of diplomats, well-off American expatriates and local elites. He was often the first to arrive in the morning, and the last to leave each day. He led students on class trips to exotic places, treating them to cookies and milk at bedtime. That was the public persona of William Vahey, carefully crafted over four decades until a maid cleaning his home in Nicaragua stole a 16-gigabyte memory drive. There, in photograph after photograph, was...

RUSH: "Writing in Scouting Magazine, Bryan Wendell says Scouts from Berkeley Heights [New Jersey] encountered Curry on a trail in Harriman State Park in New York. Curry, 57, had broken her ankle. 'We were hiking along, and we came to a trail intersection,' Scouter Rick Jurgens said, 'and a lady was sitting on the ground with her one leg out. "'We didn't think anything of it, but one of the guys asked if everything is OK. She said, 'No, not really. I think I broke my ankle.' She told us to keep going, but the guys refused.' Although Jurgens said...

A move is under way in the California court system to ban judges from belonging to the Boys Scouts of America because the youth organization discriminates against homosexuals. A proposed rule change by the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on The Code of Judicial Ethics would make the BSA no longer “excepted from the category of organizations that practice ‘invidious discrimination’ on the basis of sexual orientation.” Last May, the BSA’s National Council voted to allow acknowledged homosexuals to be in the program but not in leadership. It’s the ban on “gay” leaders that has prompted the California courts’ action.

California is proposing to ban members of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) from serving as judges because the Boy Scouts do not allow gay troop leaders, The Daily Caller has learned. In a move with major legal implications, The California Supreme Court Advisory Committee on The Code of Judicial Ethics has proposed to classify the Boy Scouts as practicing “invidious discrimination” against gays, which would end the group’s exemption to anti-discriminatory ethics rules and would prohibit judges from being affiliated with the group.

The Boy Scouts of America has revoked its charter agreement with a Seattle church that refused to remove a gay troop leader after the organization withdrew his membership. A Boy Scouts attorney told Rainier Beach United Methodist Church last week that it no longer could host troops under the Boy Scouts name. The church has stood by Geoff McGrath, 49, a Seattle software engineer and Eagle Scout, after his membership in the organization was revoked last month, setting off an impasse between the church and one of the country’s most popular youth organizations. …

Rainier Beach United Methodist Church celebrated Scout Sunday April 6, days after news broke that the Boy Scouts of America said it was banning a volunteer Scout leader and church member because he is gay. The Rev. Monica Corsaro, pastor of Rainier Beach, said Geoffrey McGrath will continue to serve as the leader of the church's scouting program. “I am a chartering partner with BSA … . If I take responsibility for who is hired then I also take responsibility for who is fired. Our church is thriving and happy, and we support Geoffrey,” Corsaro said. McGrath, an Eagle Scout,...