How the NY Council Pushed for Gay Scout Leaders

How GNYC Pushed for Gay Scout Leaders

"Taking the Lead" was the headline of a recent article that appeared in the Hoboken Reporter, written by Al Sullivan. Click here for the article. The article was about Richard "Ricky" Mason, current president of the Greater New York Councils, and how GNYC "forced the national Boy Scout organization to change its policies." (Mason lives in Hoboken.)

Sullivan relates how BSA National decided to allow gay youth into the program in 2014, but continued to exclude gay leaders until last year. Sullivan said, "In mid-2015, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates – president of the national Boy Scouts of America Organization – reversed the organization’s prior policy and allowed the hiring of gay leaders for the first time.

Mason said, "The New York Council was far ahead of the nation on this issue... We hired [someone] for our summer camp. He was an openly gay Eagle Scout." Mason added, "We needed a spokesperson. I became that spokesperson. We started a media tour (in April 2015) and when it became public, we pushed the national organization to make the change."