The Boy Scouts of America is filing for bankruptcy in “what could be one of the biggest, most complex bankruptcies ever seen,” according to the Associated Press.
What happened? The 110-year-old nonprofit organization has struggled with membership over the past few years due to two controversies: an apparent proliferation of sexual abuse cases and its recent acceptance of openly gay leaders, as well as transgender or female members. When the organization decided to accept girls and transgender boys among its members, it appeared the Boy Scouts couldn’t even tell you what a boy was.
This second controversy cost the Boy Scouts its substantial Mormon support. At the beginning of the year, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints cut its ties with the organization, removing 400,000 boys from the BSA. M. Russell Ballard, a high-ranking leader with the church, indicated that it had no choice.
“The reality there is we didn’t really leave them; they kind of left us,” Ballard said. “The direction they were going was not consistent to what we feel our youth need to have … to survive in the world that lies ahead for them.”
All by itself, the church’s decision resulted in an 18% drop in membership, leaving the organization with fewer than 2 million members. At its peak in the 1970s, the Boy Scouts of America boasted more than 4 million members.
The other controversy plaguing the Boy Scouts addresses a problem it had long before it got caught in the crosshairs of the gender and sexual orientation culture wars. After laws were passed amending the statute of limitations in New York, Arizona, New Jersey, and California, hundreds of men sued the organization, claiming they had been sexually abused while members.
While Boy Scouts of America maintained that it was not aware of sexual abuse allegations at the time, alleged victims said otherwise. James Kretschmer, one of the men suing for abuse, said the BSA was supposed to be a “beautiful” organization but that it has been corrupted.
“And if they’re not going to protect the people that they’ve entrusted with the children, then shut it down and move on,” he told the Associated Press.
Whether the Boy Scouts just filed for bankruptcy to be able to minimize liability or to keep “the truth away from the eyes of the public,” as alleged victim Scott Coats put it, the organization is in big trouble. In the end, it won’t be its waning membership or its shift on gender and identity that endanger it. It will be the organization’s apparent failure in its most important job: to protect and empower the children in its care.
