#50: Scouts

The Boy Scouts didn't just discriminate against gay scouts and leaders. They insisted on discriminating. They required local troops to discriminate. They fought a legal battle, all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, to defend their policy of discrimination. Nothing, it seemed, could move them. And yet, somehow: next week, something will happen that the scouts' national leadership long insisted would never occur... the Boy Scouts of America will hold a national vote on whether to welcome gay members.How did that happen? The answer, as it so often is, is that the change took a fight. And on this episode, for the first time anywhere, you can hear how it all went down: from the tiny petition launched by Jennifer Tyrrell, who was ousted as head of her son's tiger scout den because of her sexual orientation, to the rise of Scouts for Equality, led by straight scout--and son of two lesbian moms--Zach Wahls; from the CEOs of some of America's most powerful corporations realizing that their brands were at risk if they didn't take a stand, to hundreds of Eagle Scouts sending in their most cherished badges in protest of a policy that betrayed Scouting's core principles. As you hear what this policy did to scouts and their families, you'll get angry. When you hear how people across the country rose up to fight back, you'll be inspired.