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Local LGBTQ Advocates Praise New Boy Scouts Policy Allowing Transgender Boys

Equality Center-Facebook

Tulsa's major LGBTQ advocate praised a recent change by the Boy Scouts that will let transgender boys participate.

The Boy Scouts used to defer to a potential scout’s birth certificate for his gender, but the organization will now accept the gender marked on applications.

Oklahomans for Equality Director Toby Jenkins said there have always been transgender children, but they didn’t have good mental health and advocacy resources until recently.

"So, you're beginning to see more visible, strong statements about these children deserve to be able to participate in some of the same programs that other children have participated in," Jenkins said.

OKEQ runs out of the Dennis. R. Neill Equality Center in downtown Tulsa.

"Not everybody has an equality center in their city, so we believe that across the nation this will be a good thing for families who live in little cities and villages all over the country," Jenkins said.

Jenkins said the Boy Scouts are making progress, but it doesn’t always make it to the local level. For example, after lifting a ban on openly gay troop leaders in 2015, the organization would not charter a Cub Scout pack OKEQ hosted.

"They said they felt like it was wrong for the Boy Scouts to be tied to an organization that advocated for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer people," Jenkins said.

Jenkins said they’re willing to try again if the Scouts have inclusive leaders.

Before lifting the ban on openly gay troop leaders, the Boy Scouts eliminated a ban on gay children in 2013.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.