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 Gates, who helped end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that
barred gays from serving openly in the U.S. military while he was
defense secretary, said he strongly supported the Boy Scouts vote
last year to lift its ban on gay youth members.
He also said he personally supported going further, but would oppose
efforts to reopen the issue in his two years as president. His
selection had fueled speculation that Gates would seek to end the
ban on gay adult scout leaders.
"Given the strong feelings - the passion - involved on both sides of
this matter, I believe strongly that to reopen the membership issue
or try to take last year's decision to the next step would
irreparably fracture and perhaps even provoke a formal, permanent
split in this movement ...," Gates said in the text of a speech to
the annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.
Gates, a former CIA director, was defense secretary when the
military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was repealed in 2010.
"This is where we are at as a movement" Gates said in an interview.
"Unlike the Pentagon or the CIA, I can't just give an order and
everyone salutes and does what I say."
Gay rights activists criticized Gates' remarks.
"This is a cop out, and it tarnishes the legacy Mr. Gates has built
as a leader who bridged cultural and political divides and led the
military - and now the Boy Scouts - into the 21st century, said Zach
Wahls, an Eagle Scout and executive director of Scouts for Equality.
Jennifer Tyrrell, an Ohio mother who was ousted as a leader of her
son's Cub Scouts pack because she is a lesbian, said fairness cannot
wait.
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Gates, who took over as president this week, said he wants the Boy
Scouts to focus on recruiting and fundraising at a local level. The
Boy Scouts have acknowledged membership declines, but have about 2.6
million youth members and one million adult leaders.
The vote last May to allow openly gay scouts starting on January 1
drew criticism from conservatives who opposed the change and from
gay rights groups who said it did not go far enough.
Some parents pulled their boys from the Boy Scouts after the vote
and a group of conservatives formed a break-away start-up, Trail
Life USA, which condemns sexual activity outside marriage between a
man and woman as "sinful before God."
Some major sponsors have pulled funding from the scouts to protest
policies seen as discriminatory, including Lockheed Martin Corp and
Intel Corp.
(Reporting by Marice Richter in Dallas; Editing by David Bailey, Kim
Coghill and Ron Popeski)
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