Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced that Scouting America, formerly known as Boy Scouts, is ending its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
In a video released on social media, Hegseth noted that he considered ending all support for the organization prior to its pivot.
“After 2012, however, the Boy Scouts lost their way, and a once great organization became gravely wounded. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, DEI, crept in. The name was changed to Scouting America. Girls were accepted. The focus on God as the ruler of the universe was watered down to include openness to humanism and Earth-centered pagan religions,” he said, adding that gender fluidity and transgenderism “infiltrated” the organization.
“Along the way, standards were lowered, and merit destroyed in favor of an insidious, radical woke ideology that is anti-America and anti-American. The result, membership cratered,” Hegseth said. “Americans didn’t want this. In 1970, 10 million boys participated in Boy Scouts. Currently, less than 1 million boys and girls participate.”
Scouting America has now agreed to comply with the order eliminating DEI. “This includes reviewing and replacing politicized, divisive, and discriminatory language throughout the organization, programs, and all publications. No more DEI. Zero,” he proclaimed, adding that the entity has also agreed to “modify its policy to make clear that membership will be based solely on biological sex at birth and not gender identity.”
The former Boy Scouts of America announced its name change in 2024 in an effort to be more inclusive, as both boys and girls have joined the organization. The rebrand took effect in February 2025. “The fact that we were going with a more kind of gender-neutral name, a lot of people kind of wanted to know more about it,” President and CEO Roger Krone said in a statement at the time.
