Boy Scouts end ban on gay leaders
NEW YORK – The Boy Scouts of America have ended a blanket ban on gay adult leaders while allowing church-sponsored Scout units to maintain the exclusion because of their faith.
The new policy, aimed at easing a controversy that embroiled the Boy Scouts for years and threatened the organization with lawsuits, takes effect immediately. It was approved Monday by the BSA’s 80-member National Executive Board in a teleconference.
The stage had been set for Monday’s action on May 21, when the BSA’s president, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, told the Scouts’ national meeting that the long-standing ban on participation by openly gay adults was no longer sustainable.
Panel to investigate prisoner’s suicide
HEMPSTEAD, Texas – A committee of outside attorneys will assist the Texas district attorney investigating the death of Sandra Bland, the black woman who authorities say hanged herself in her jail cell three days after a traffic stop by a white state trooper.
Authorities also released an initial toxicology report for Bland on Monday, a report that two experts who reviewed it for The Associated Press said raises the possibility that Bland may have used marijuana while in custody.
Associated Press
