Collin County Leader Resigns From Boy Scouts

Collin County Commissioner Chris Hill resigns over BSA's decision to end ban on gay youth members

A Collin County commissioner and longtime Boy Scouts of America volunteer is resigning from the organization after Thursday's decision to end the group's ban on gay youth members.

Commissioner Chris Hill announced Thursday that he would step down from his position as district chairman in the Lone Star District of the BSA's Circle Ten Council.

"This is about scouting being true to what it's always been," he said. "Now, that organization has decided to abandon those values and change."

Circle 10 Council CEO Pat Currie said the organization respects everyone's decision.

"This is a very complicated and difficult issue that could be divisive," he said. "We regret it, because the program is about kids and serving kids."

Hill said his stance has "never been an issue of anger or intolerance," saying that he feels politics and sexuality do not belong in the same sentence as Scouting.

"I joined scouting as a youngster, went through Cub Scouting and Boy Scouts and won the Eagle Scout award," he said. "It was very instrumental to me in teaching values and morals."

The proposal approved by 61 percent of the BSA National Council ends the restriction on gay youth members, with the ban on gay Scout leaders staying in place.

Hill said he disagrees with the mandate that a scouting troop must accept any gay Scout, regardless of the Scout leader's personal beliefs or the troop's sponsoring church's beliefs.

He said he has not yet decided if his sons will continue to participate in Boy Scouts.

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