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Boy Scouts March In Uniform At Utah Gay Pride Parade

Members of the Boys Scouts of America and some of their families marched Sunday in Salt Lake City's Utah Pride parade.
Jim Urquhart

Ten days after their national organization voted to allow openly gay boys to be members, a handful of Boy Scouts marched in uniform on Sunday at the Utah Pride Parade in Salt Lake City.

NBC News notes that the group was "defying a leader of the youth organization who had said they couldn't do so under the organization's guidelines [that prohibit] advocating political or social positions."

According to NBC:

"Peter Brownstein, a Scoutmaster in Salt Lake City who helped organize the Boy Scouts participation in the march, said a few adults and youth marched at the front of the parade in uniform, including a Cub Scout, a Boy Scout and his stepdad, an Eagle Scout, who borrowed a uniform to wear, and an Asst. Scoutmaster."

Brownstein chose not to wear his uniform, but he did march. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that "Neil Whitaker of Salt Lake City wore his Scout uniform, while his son, Kobe McDonald, carried the Utah flag. 'It's about having an inclusive society,' Whitaker said."

Salt Lake City's Fox 13 News has a video report here.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
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