After being excluded for more than a century, transgender boys can now join the Boy Scouts of America. In the past, the Scouting organization has always deferred to the information given on an individual’s birth certificate to determine eligibility for its gender-based program.
With nearly 2.3 million members between the ages of 7 and 21 and roughly 960,000 volunteers in local councils throughout the country, the Boy Scouts has tremendous influence on politics and culture. It’s mission is to prepare youth for “life and leadership,”
Under this new policy — applied on Jan. 30 — membership in the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts will be entirely based on gender identity. The shift follows in the footsteps of other youth organizations, including the Girl Scouts, which began to adopt transgender policies in 2015.
Communications Director for the Boy Scouts of America’s National Service Center, Effie Delimarkos, said in a statement on Monday that the “approach is no longer sufficient as communities and state laws are interpreting gender identity differently, and these laws vary widely from state to state."
A few months before the decision was reached, eight-year-old transgender boy, Joe Maldonado, was kicked out of a New Jersey chapter, and referred to alternate programs, raising both controversy and criticism.
"I felt very upset but then very angry because it's just not fair that because I was born a girl they won't let me in," Joe had told CNN.
This is not the first time the Boy Scouts have come under fire for its policies on diversity. It wasn’t until 2013 that the organization lifted a blanket ban on openly gay scouts. A petition calling to end the ban gathered 1.8 million signatures.
According to findings published last year by the journal, Pediatrics, transgender children who socially transition with the support of their families have much lower rates of depression than those who were cisgender, or those who feel constrained by their birth gender. With a caring support system, mental health problems are avoidable and can help bring down the alarming statistic that 40 percent of transgender people report having attempted suicide.
For little Ellie Ford, it was never a question of if she was a girl or not. For as long as they can remember, her parents recalled their four-year-old pretending to be female superheroes as well as playing dress-up with princess costumes.
Parents, Vanessa and JR Ford, told The New York Times that once Ellie said she was not a boy at her Frozen-themed birthday party, they sent out a group email to announce that Ellie would begin prekindergarten that year as a transgender girl. “I’m a girl in my heart and my brain,” she explained to her parents.
The Fords will be one of the families profiled in the documentary, “Gender Revolution: A Journey With Katie Couric,” which is to air on Feb. 6 on the National Geographic Channel.
Additionally, they are one family of many participating in one of the first large-scale studies to examine the development of transgender children, the TransYouth Project. The new project is led by assistant professor of psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle, Kristina Olson.
By the time kids like Ellie and Joe hit puberty, the study conducted will have already hit around the 10-year mark. That means 10 years for questions to be answered, stigmas to be broken, and mental health development to be better understood.
Until then, it will take little victories like Monday’s to make a world of difference for transgender children.
A player involved in promoting inclusivity and LGBTQ rights in the Boy Scouts, Scouts for Equality, celebrated the new policy.
“Scouts for Equality is incredibly proud of the Boy Scouts of America for following the values of the Scout Oath and Law in making this decision,” they released in a statement on Facebook. “Kudos to you, Joe. We hope you give Cub Scouts another chance.”
Transgender boys are now welcome in @boyscouts! https://t.co/o6Nw9AErZJpic.twitter.com/Ywb2CUlvq7
— Scouts For Equality (@Scouts4Equality) January 31, 2017