Boy Scouts Finally Allows Gay Troop Leaders but There's a Catch.

Boy Scouts of America has officially ended its totally pointless ban on gay troop leaders, The New York Times reports.

This news comes after a unanimous vote to end the ban on gay Boy Scout troop leaders was taken earlier this month and has now been approved by a larger executive board. Sadly, it's still kind of a mixed bag though. 

While having a gay troop leader is no longer nationally banned, the option for church-sponsored Boy Scouts groups throughout the country to say, "No, thanks. We'd rather not accept gay leaders," is still weirdly in place. 

Even with that "choose your own homophobia" approach, the Mormon church (who uses Boy Scouts as their main non-religious activity for young boys) is stillthreatening to remove themselves from Boy Scouts programs, which is something that one of the top Boy Scout leaders, Robert M. Gates, says they were hoping to avoid by allowing church groups to call their own shots on this one. 

The Mormon church issued a statement on the issue, saying:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is deeply troubled by today's vote by the Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board ... The Church has always welcomed all boys to its Scouting units regardless of sexual orientation. However, the admission of openly gay leaders is inconsistent with the doctrines of the Church and what have traditionally been the values of the Boy Scouts of America.

So there can be gay boy scouts, but if those gay little boys grow up and want to be troop leaders they can't? Um, OK.