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Vote at annual meeting in Texas may relieve political pressure but openly gay leaders are still bannedThe Boy Scouts of America on Thursday voted to allow gay youths in the organization, partially ending a long-standing ban on accepting homosexual members. Of the 1,400 scout leaders voting at the annual meeting in Texas, more than 60% supported the proposal. The members voted in favor of adjusting the BSA membership rules to read: "No youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone."While gay youth members can now be accepted into the scouts, gay scout leaders are still banned from the organization. "The Boy Scouts of America will not sacrifice its mission, or the youth served by the movement, by allowing the organization to be consumed by a single, divisive, and unresolved societal issue," the BSA said in a statement. "As the National Executive Committee just completed a lengthy review process, there are no plans for further review on this matter."The policy will be implemented at the more than 116,000 scouting units on 1 January, 2014. "While people have different opinions about this policy, we can all agree that kids are better off when they are in Scouting. Going forward, our Scouting family will continue to focus on reaching and serving youth in order to help them grow into good, strong citizens," the BSA said.The ban has been a fraught issue since it was instituted, in 1978. It was subject to renewed criticism in July 2012 when the organization reaffirmed its ban after conducting a confidential two-year review. Gay-rights groups used the affirmation to reinvigorate the fight against the ban, and numerous online campaigns emerged in support of the campaign. Barack Obama said in February that he would like to see the ban lifted. A national BSA governing board member, Ernst & Young CEO James Turley, said the organization should drop the policy and corporations including Intel, UPS and Merck withdrew funding to the group as uproar against the ban grew.BSA announced on 19 April that it would seek to an end the ban on openly gay youth members, after surveying 1 million members of the organization. The organization said in a release that the issue was "among the most complex and challenging issues facing the BSA and society today"."Even with the wide range of input, it is extremely difficult to accurately quantify the potential impact of maintaining or changing the current policy," the organization said. "While perspectives and opinions vary significantly, parents, adults in the Scouting community, and teens alike tend to agree that youth should not be denied the benefits of Scouting."Those in support of the ban were comprised primarily of religious groups and older scouting parents (pdf). "Views among parents under the age of 50 have changed significantly in the past three years, with a majority now opposing the BSA's current policy," reads the BSA voting information packet. According to the AP, 70% of the more than 100,000 scouting units in the US are chartered by religious organizations. Though some of those groups don't support the ban, the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Southern Baptist churches have supported it in the past. The organization has more than 2,658,000 youth members and more than 1 million adult members. Incorporated in 1910, the BSA's mission is "to provide an educational program for boys and young adults to build character, to train in the responsibilities of participating citizenship, and to develop personal fitness".Gay rightsScouts and scoutingSexualityUnited StatesTexasAmanda Holpuchguardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds    

Kirsten Gillibrand of New York criticises official response after charges sergeant photographed and filmed womenCharges that an Army sergeant secretly photographed and videotaped women at West Point are part of a military-wide pattern of sexual misconduct, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York said on Thursday.The military has been rocked by a series of arrests and incidents of sexual misconduct. But the news from the venerable US Military Academy could be particularly embarrassing. The Army said on Wednesday that a sergeant at West Point had been charged with secretly photographing and videotaping at least a dozen women at the academy, including in a bathroom.Sgt. 1st Class Michael McClendon, a combat engineer, was assigned to the academy from 2009 until recently. He was a member of the support staff at West Point, working with cadets. He has been transferred to Fort Drum, New York. The Associated Press could not find a working number for McClendon, and it could not be immediately determined whether he had a lawyer. He was charged on 14 May, though the charges became public this week as senior cadets prepare for commencement on Saturday. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will speak to the graduates.The allegation comes the same month the Pentagon released a report estimating that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year and that thousands of victims are unwilling to come forward despite new oversight and assistance programs.Gillibrand said the West Point charges illustrated a culture and reporting system that allows predators to remain in service. Service members afraid of retaliation or jeopardizing their careers often are reluctant to bring charges of sexual misconduct to their superiors, she said."This case is another case in a long line of incidents where we have clear evidence that the military did not understand how to handle this problem of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct," Gillibrand said. "Obviously, you're not having a level of accountability that is going to prevent these incidents and send a clear message that this criminal behavior is unacceptable."Gillibrand, who is on the Senate armed services committee, is pushing for a system in which sexual assault is reported outside the chain of command, directly to a military prosecutor.West Point was named along with military officials in a lawsuit filed in April 2012, seeking the court's help in permanently changing attitudes about sexual assault at military academies. The lawsuit claims the nation's military academies "systemically and repeatedly ignore rampant sexual harassment". The suit said a 20-year-old Pennsylvania woman resigned from West Point after she became suicidal following her rape by a roommate's boyfriend, who remained in her unit after she reported she was attacked.An army spokesman, George Wright, said West Point was working to prevent sexual harassment and assault and to cultivate cultural norms that prevent it in the future. He noted that the allegations date to more than a year ago, a time when West Point was already training cadets, faculty and staff."The overwhelming majority of staff and faculty here are good, law-abiding and respectful people dedicated to service to their country," Wright said in an email. "The recent allegations have re-affirmed the importance of screening our staff and faculty to ensure we have decent, forthright people training and mentoring the future leaders of the Army."Sue Fulton, a 1980 West Point graduate, said that sexual offenders are "a tiny minority that don't reflect the kind of people who sign up to serve. That said, I can't help but agree with Senator Gillibrand that we need to change the culture. This kind of behavior goes against our army values and against the core values of West Point."Fulton is a member of the US Military Academy's board of visitors, though she said she could not speak for the board. She also is a co-founder of Knights Out, an organization of gay West Point graduates. Fulton said even the simple step of accepting more qualified female applicants to West Point could help. She said women currently represent 16% of cadets."We know that the culture could change in a positive way if women were more fairly represented," Fulton said.US militaryUnited StatesUS politicsUS SenateNew Yorkguardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds    

The House approved a Republican proposal Thursday to allow interest rates on federal student loans to rise or fall from year to year with the government’s cost of borrowing, ending a system in which rates are fixed by law. Read full article >>    

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is inclined to recall Internal Revenue Service official Lois G. Lerner to testify before his panel, but will await recommendations from committee lawyers, the nonpartisan House Counsel, other outside legal experts and committee Democrats before making a final decision, he said Thursday. Read full article >>    

Sri Srinivasan -- the principal deputy solicitor general President Obama has nominated to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, was confirmed in a 97 to 0 vote Thursday. Read full article >>