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David Crary

Former Cub Scout den leader Jennifer Tyrrell, who was ousted from Scouting because she is openly gay, becomes emotional as she responds to a reporter’s question Thursday in Grapevine, Texas. Local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America voted Thursday to ease a divisive ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted into the nation’s leading youth organization — one of the most dramatic moves the organization has made in a century. (TONY GUTIERREZ/The Associated Press)

Boy Scouts vote to accept openly gay boys

David Crary, Nomaan Merchant The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, May 23, 2013 - 11:35pm

GRAPEVINE, Texas — The Boy Scouts of America threw open its ranks Thursday to gay Scouts but not gay Scout leaders — a fiercely contested compromise that some warned could fracture the organization and lead to mass defections of members and donors.

Of the roughly 1,400 voting members of the BSA’s National Council who cast ballots, 61 percent supported the proposal drafted by the governing Executive Committee. The policy change takes effect Jan. 1.

“This has been a challenging chapter in our history,” the BSA chief executive, Wayne Brock, said after the vote. “While people have differing opinions on this policy, kids are better off when they’re in Scouting.”

Boy Scouts, Gays, National Read more Comments

Boy Scouts from right, Joey Kalich, 10, Steven Grime, 7, and Jonathon Grime, 9, raise their hands at the close of a news conference held by people against the change in the Boy Scouts of America gay policy Wednesday, May 22, 2013, in Grapevine, Texas. Delegates to the Boys Scouts of America meeting nearby are expected to address a proposal to allow gay scouts into the organization. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Tense day as Boy Scouts vote on gay policy

David Crary, Nomaan Merchant The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, May 23, 2013 - 10:17am

GRAPEVINE, Texas -- The Boy Scouts of America's national leadership will vote Thursday whether to allow openly gay Scouts in its ranks, a critical and emotionally charged moment for one of the nation's oldest youth organizations and its millions of members.

About 1,400 voting members of BSA's national council are to cast ballots Thursday on a resolution that would end a policy that allows youth Scouts to be excluded based only on sexual orientation. The ban on gay adult leaders would remain in place.

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(Clockwise from left) Boy Scouts Eric Kusterer, Jacob Sorah, James Sorah and Micah Brownlee, with Cub Scout John Sorah, hold signs at the “Save Our Scouts” prayer vigil and rally in front of the Boy Scouts of America headquarters in Irving, Texas, in February. With its ranks deeply divided, the Boy Scouts of America is asking its local leaders from across the country to decide Thursday whether its membership policy should be overhauled so openly gay boys can participate in Scouts. (Associated Press file photo)

Boy Scout gay policy vote could be lose-lose situation

David Crary The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, May 18, 2013 - 4:02pm

With its ranks deeply divided, the Boy Scouts of America is asking its local leaders from across the country to decide whether its contentious membership policy should be overhauled so that openly gay boys can participate in Scout units.

The proposal to be put before the roughly 1,400 voting members of the BSA's National Council on Thursday, at a meeting in Grapevine, Texas, would retain the Scouts' long-standing ban on gays serving in adult leadership positions.

Boy Scouts, Gays, National Read more Comments

Philly abortion murder trial has national impact

David Crary, Michael Rubinkam The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, May 4, 2013 - 4:27pm

For weeks, jurors in Philadelphia heard grim testimony about deaths and squalor at Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s inner-city abortion clinic. While they listened, the murder case reverberated far beyond the courtroom, changing — at least for the moment — the tone of the national debate on abortion.

Crime, Murder, Abortion, National Read more Comments

FILE - This combination of undated file photos shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The FBI says the two brothers are the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, and are also responsible for killing an MIT police officer, critically injuring a transit officer in a firefight and throwing explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left Tamerlan dead and Dzhokhar captured, late Friday, April 19, 2013. Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sought to embrace American lives after immigrating from Russia _ joining a boxing club, winning a scholarship and even seeking U.S. citizenship. But their uncle last week angrily called them “losers” who failed to feel settled even after a decade of living in the United States. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun & Robin Young, File)

Religious motive officially cited in Boston bombing

David Crary, Denise Lavoie The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - 9:44am

BOSTON — The two brothers suspected of bombing the Boston Marathon appear to have been motivated by a radical brand of Islam but do not seem connected to any Muslim terrorist groups, U.S. officials said Monday after interrogating and charging Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with crimes that could bring the death penalty.

Bombings, Boston Marathon, Terrorism, National Read more Comments

This Jan. 22, 2013 photo shows the Salt Lake Temple, at Temple Square, in Salt Lake City. Mormon church officials and Boy Scout leaders in Utah applauded the Boy Scouts of America for putting off a decision Wednesday on lifting its ban on gay members and leaders. The policy under consideration would let troop sponsors make their own decisions about leaders and youth members. Boy Scouts of America "acted wisely in delaying its decision until all voices can be heard on this important moral issue," said Michael Purdy, spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church will continue to closely monitor the proposed policy change, Purdy said. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

LDS Church: 'Don't speculate about our position' on Boy Scouts gay ban

David Crary, Nomaan Merchant The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, February 7, 2013 - 4:50pm

It promises to be a campaign as passionate and dramatic as any big election. For the next 14 weeks, the Boy Scouts of America will be the focus of prayers, petitions and pressure tactics aimed at swaying a vote on whether to ease its ban on gays as Scouts or adult leaders.

Boy Scouts, Gays, LDS Church, National Read more Comments

James Oliver, left, hugs his brother and fellow Eagle Scout, Will Oliver, who is gay, as Will and other supporters carry four boxes filled with a petition in front of the Boy Scouts of America headquarters Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, in Dallas, Texas. Scouts and their families have delivered a petition to the Boy Scouts of America headquarters urging an end to a policy banning gay scouts and leaders from the organization. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Boy Scouts delay decision on gay ban

David Crary, Nomaan Merchant The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, February 6, 2013 - 11:51am

IRVING, Texas — Faced with intense pressure from two flanks, the Boy Scouts of America said Wednesday it needed more time for consultations before deciding whether to move away from its divisive policy of excluding gays as scouts or adult leaders.

Boy Scouts, Gays, Featured, National Read more Comments

LDS Church won't comment on possible change in Boy Scouts' gay policy

David Crary The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - 5:13pm

NEW YORK -- The Boy Scouts of America's proposed move away from its no-gays membership policy has outraged some longtime admirers, gratified many critics and raised intriguing questions about the iconic organization's future.

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In this photo made Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013, Jeana Bonner of South Jordan, Utah, who wants to adopt a Russian orphan with Down's syndrome, expresses her frustration with a legal dead-end that prevents her from taking custody of the girl, in Moscow, Russia. From their faraway homes in the American West, two couples made repeated missions of love to Moscow, each seeking to adopt children with Down syndrome. Now, with court approval at last in hand, a political squabble with a trace of Cold War friction has derailed those plans, leaving them in anxious limbo. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)

Russia's adoption ban leaves Utah, Idaho families in limbo

David Crary, Jim Heintz The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, January 16, 2013 - 11:18am

MOSCOW -- From their faraway homes in the American West, the two couples made repeated missions of love to Moscow, each seeking to adopt children with Down syndrome.

Now, with court approval at last in hand, a political squabble with a trace of Cold War friction has derailed those plans, leaving them in anxious limbo.

Adoption, Utah, International Read more Comments

Boy Scouts host anti-abuse forum

David Crary The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, October 31, 2012 - 12:56pm

Even as its past policies on sex-abuse prevention fuel controversy, the Boy Scouts of America is hosting an unprecedented closed-door symposium Thursday with other national youth organizations, hoping to share strategies to combat future abuse.

Child Sex Abuse, Boy Scouts, National Read more Comments

FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct., 16, 2012 photo, Portland attorney Kelly Clark examines some of the 14,500 pages of previously confidential documents created by the Boy Scouts of America concerning child sexual abuse within the organization, in preparation for releasing the documents Thursday, Oct. 18, in his office in Portland, Ore. The Boy Scouts of America fought to keep those files confidential. (AP Photo/Greg Wahl-Stephens)

Release of abuse files present challenges for Boy Scouts

David Crary, Rebecca Boone The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, October 22, 2012 - 3:52pm

True to their motto, the Boys Scouts tried to be prepared. For months, they braced for the backlash sure to follow the court-ordered release of voluminous confidential files detailing decades of alleged sex abuse by Scout leaders.

Now the files are public, lawyers are calling for a congressional investigation and the Boy Scouts of America — as so often in recent years — finds itself embattled.

Child Sex Abuse, Boy Scouts, National Read more Comments

Boy Scouts of America National Headquarters, Irving, Texas.

Boy Scouts reaffirm ban on gays

David Crary The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - 9:55am

NEW YORK — After a confidential two-year review, the Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday emphatically reaffirmed its policy of excluding gays, ruling out any changes despite relentless protest campaigns by some critics.

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U.S. Air Force chaplain Col. Timothy Wagoner answers a question as he sits in the McGuire Air Force Base chapel at Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst in Wrightstown, N.J., Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Wagoner, who commands five fellow chaplains at the base in central New Jersey, said the chaplain corps was responding professionally and creatively to what he called a "balancing act" in the nine months since the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy was repealed and gays could serve openly. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Air Force chaplains adjust to gays serving openly

David Crary The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, July 5, 2012 - 9:09am

WRIGHTSTOWN, N.J. — Col. Timothy Wagoner has been an Air Force chaplain for 20 years, serving a denomination — the Southern Baptists — that rejects same-sex relationships.

Yet here he was at the chapel he oversees, watching supportively as an airman and his male partner celebrated a civil union ceremony.

Air Force, Gays military, National Read more Comments

Child-on-child sex abuse poses complex challenges

David Crary The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, January 7, 2012 - 5:56pm

NEW YORK — Recent high-profile cases of child sex abuse have roused national revulsion against the adults who perpetrated them. Rarely mentioned is the sobering statistic that more than one-third of the sexual abuse of America’s children is committed by other minors.

Child Sex Abuse, Crime, Children, National, Rape Read more Comments

Veteran consumer advocate takes on big-time sports

David Crary The Associated Press

Last updated Sunday, December 18, 2011 - 7:34pm

NEW YORK -- On the wall of Ralph Nader's office hangs a color portrait of baseball legend Lou Gehrig, an old-fashioned hero who seems to rebuke so much of today's sports world -- the sex-abuse and drug scandals, labor strife, rampant commercialization.

Gehrig, who set a standard for durability while playing 2,130 consecutive games over 15 seasons, is the only sports idol acknowledged by Nader, himself a kind of "Iron Horse" in his chosen playing field, America's consumer movement.

Businesss, Health, Politics, Sports Read more Comments