{"id":22036,"date":"2026-02-27T18:25:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=22036"},"modified":"2026-02-27T18:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:25:13","slug":"scouting-america-ends-dei-efforts-in-deal-with-pentagon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=22036","title":{"rendered":"Scouting America ends DEI efforts in deal with Pentagon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<div id=\"videoWrap\" class=\"spacer-large videoWrap\" style=\"position:relative\">\n<div id=\"uwVideoPlaceholder\" style=\"z-index:19;width:100%;padding-bottom:56.25%;position:relative\">\n<div class=\"vidplaybtn\" style=\"display:-moz-box;display:-ms-flexbox;display:-webkit-flex;display:flex;border:2px solid #fff;border-radius:80px;cursor:pointer;height:80px;width:80px;position:absolute;top:50%;left:50%;z-index:10\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"vidplayicon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/appservices\/universal-web\/universal\/icons\/icon-play-alt-white.svg\" alt=\"play\" style=\"height:40px;margin:auto 18px auto 27px;width:40px\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"videoDetails\" class=\"videoDetails\" style=\"padding-top:8px;padding-bottom:8px\">\n<div id=\"videoDetailsContainer\" class=\"videoDetailsContainer\" hidden=\"\">DEI: Explaining the diversity, equity and inclusion debate<\/p>\n<p>Initiatives for diversity, equity, and inclusion are facing bans across the United States.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Secretary of War <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/news\/politics\/pete-hegseth\/\">Pete Hegseth<\/a> on Feb. 26 announced the Pentagon will conditionally continue to provide support to Scouting America following the youth organization&#8217;s &#8220;commitment to pull all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from its program.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.war.gov\/News\/News-Stories\/Article\/Article\/4417012\/hegseth-says-scouting-america-support-to-continue-upon-orgs-commitment-to-drop\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.war.gov\/News\/News-Stories\/Article\/Article\/4417012\/hegseth-says-scouting-america-support-to-continue-upon-orgs-commitment-to-drop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a video<\/a>, Hegseth said he had been weighing ending &#8220;all support&#8221; of Scouting America, the nonprofit\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation\/2025\/02\/08\/boy-scouts-name-change-scouting-america\/78087597007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">formerly called the Boy Scouts of America<\/a>,\u00a0after &#8220;DEI crept in.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Scouting America has signed a memorandum of understanding stating that it will comply with an executive order from President <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/news\/politics\/donald-trump\/\" data-autotag=\"26f031d1-9924-4f10-b4e6-019d076113d5\">Donald Trump<\/a> that aimed to bar DEI efforts in the public and private sectors, Hegseth said.<\/p>\n<p>Changes include the removal of DEI-focused language from Scouting America&#8217;s programs and publications, and the elimination of a &#8220;citizenship in society&#8221; merit badge that required Scouts to &#8220;realize the benefits of diversity, equity, inclusion and ethical leadership.&#8221; A new military service merit badge will be introduced, according to the Pentagon.<\/p>\n<p>Membership in the organization will also be based on a child&#8217;s sex assigned at birth. &#8220;That means that the application, any application, will have only two sex designations, male and female, and the application must match the applicant&#8217;s birth certificate,&#8221; Hegseth said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was very seriously considering ending our support of Scouting altogether,&#8221; Hegseth said in the video.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But, before making this big change, I decided to meet with the current scouting leadership to convey our deep concerns,&#8221; Hegseth continued, adding that Scouting America eventually agreed to &#8220;key reforms&#8221; after discussions with officials at the Department of War, formally known as the Department of Defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Scouting America President and CEO Roger Krone said the organization was proud to maintain its longstanding commitment to military families\u202facross the globe through &#8220;a renewed, strengthened partnership with the Department of War.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Over several months, we engaged in dialogue with Department\u202fleadership\u202fto\u202falign on\u202fhow we could deepen our service to military\u00a0families,\u00a0while\u00a0making programmatic updates to\u00a0comply with\u00a0Executive Order 14173,&#8221; Krone told USA TODAY on Feb. 27. &#8220;Today\u00a0we are\u00a0moving forward with\u00a0implementing\u00a0new programmatic elements\u202fthat deliver that mission.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Krone said throughout the process, Scouting America &#8220;held firm\u202fon the core commitments&#8221; that define the organization, which rebranded to its current name in 2024. It began permitting girls to join Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts in 2018 and 2019, respectively, and now has more than 200,000 girls among its members.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Girls have been an integral part of Scouting since the 1960s and have served as leaders and program developers for decades,&#8221; Krone said. &#8220;That commitment is unwavering.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"related-link\"><span class=\"exclude-from-newsgate\"><strong style=\"margin-right:3px\">&#8216;Lost its way&#8217;: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2026\/02\/05\/boy-scouting-america-pentagon-threat-dei\/88525092007\/\" rel=\"noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Pentagon threatens Boy Scouts over DEI, &#8216;God and country&#8217;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"presto-h2 wp-block-heading\">Ongoing threats over DEI<\/h2>\n<p>Hegseth&#8217;s announcement comes after Pentagon spokesperson\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/seanparnellasw\/status\/2018495511360053609?s=46\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sean Parnell wrote<\/a> earlier in February called Scouting America &#8220;a great organization,&#8221; that has &#8220;lost its way.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Citing the nonprofit&#8217;s \u201cunacceptable\u201d decisions in recent years \u201cthat run counter to the values&#8221; of the Trump administration, Parnell wrote, Scouting America&#8217;s leadership has made decisions &#8220;that embrace of DEl and other social justice, gender-fluid ideological stances&#8221; for more than a decade.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have made it very clear: No more DEI at (DOW),&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/seanparnellasw\/status\/2018495511360053609?s=46\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Parnell wrote<\/a>\u00a0in a Feb. 2 post on X.<\/p>\n<p><em>Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2026\/02\/27\/scouting-america-dei-gender-pentagon-hegseth\/88897536007\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DEI: Explaining the diversity, equity and inclusion debate Initiatives for diversity, equity, and inclusion are facing bans across the United States. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Feb. 26 announced the Pentagon will conditionally continue to provide support to Scouting America following the youth organization&#8217;s &#8220;commitment to pull all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives &#8230; <a title=\"Scouting America ends DEI efforts in deal with Pentagon\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=22036\" aria-label=\"Read more about Scouting America ends DEI efforts in deal with Pentagon\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Scouting-America-ends-DEI-efforts-in-deal-with-Pentagon.JPG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22036"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22038,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22036\/revisions\/22038"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}