Scouting America Will Alter Its Policies To Maintain Support From U.S. Military, Pentagon Says

The changes include a requirement that members use "biological sex at birth and not gender identity," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scouting America will alter several policies at the urging of the Pentagon, including a requirement that members use “biological sex at birth and not gender identity,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday.

Some of the changes mirror what the organization suggested to the Defense Department in January, which included discontinuing its Citizenship in Society merit badge and introducing a Military Service merit badge as well as waiving registration fees for the children of military personnel.

Under Hegseth, the Pentagon has taken aim at the military’s partnership with Scouting America, decrying its historic rebrand in 2024 from the Boy Scouts and other changes in recent years that he sees as part of “woke culture” efforts that he wants to root out.

Hegseth said in a video posted on X that the Pentagon will “vigorously review” the changes the organization has made in six months and will cease its support of Scouting America if it fails to comply.

“We hope that doesn’t happen, but it could,” Hegseth said. “Ideally I believe the Boy Scouts should go back to being the Boy Scouts as originally founded, a group that develops boys into men. Maybe someday.”