Long Island Girl Continues Quest To Join Boy Scouts, National Organization For Women Lends Support

BRIDGEHAMPTON, NY — The future could soon be dawning brighter for a 15-year-old Bridgehampton girl, who's been crusading for years to be allowed to join the Boy Scouts of America.

"We are moving forward," said Gary Ireland, whose daughter Sydney is fighting for the right to join the Boy Scouts and earn her Eagle Scout rank.

According to NBCNews.com, a meeting of Boy Scouts of America chapter representatives and others is taking place at BSA headquarters in Irving, TX, Thursday, to discuss potentially allowing girls expanded opportunities in the 107-year old organization.

Ireland said he and the National Organization for Women have teamed up to send emails and letters to AT&T CEO/Boy Scout President Randall Stephenson, urging him to consider expanding the ranks to allow girls to pursue equal opportunities.

"We applaud the Boy Scouts for discussing the issue of ending the discriminatory policies against girls but we need immediate change. Please email AT&T CEO/Boy Scout President Randall L. Stephenson and request that he allow girls to join welcoming Troops and earn the Eagle Rank," Ireland wrote.

So far, Ireland said he has not received a response. "Back in September the Scouts' spokesperson said they would meet with us." However, there have been no responses thus far in regard to requests to meet, Ireland said.

Ireland said he's dropping off his daughter's application to join Boy Scouts at BSA headquarters and also sending it to Stephenson, too.

"With the BSA leadership meeting today we want to make sure the voices of inclusion and diversity are heard. We welcome the opportunity to meet with the BSA leadership to discuss diversity initiatives and in particular the integration of young women into Scout programs," Ireland said Thursday.

Sonia Ossorio, President, NOW New York, told Patch Thursday that at NOW's national conference two years ago, a resolution was passed to support the effort for Boy Scouts to further diversify and allows girls who want to strive to the "very top of U.S. Scouting to be allowed to do so."

To that end, she said NOW has focused on a number of efforts, including requesting a meeting with Stephenson and embarking upon the email campaign, something NOW members have embraced.

"It most certainly resonates with our members because they want their daughters to have as many choices and opportunities to succeed as their sons," she said.

She added that allowing girls to join Boy Scouts just makes sense. "It's a win-win for everyone. Boy Scouts could expand its ranks. And in today's polarized political climate, where there is less tolerance, what could be a better antidote than having young boys and girls working together?" Ossorio said.

In a letter to Stephenson, Ossorio wrote, "We commend the Boy Scouts of America’s inclusive policy of welcoming transgender male scouts into all scouting programs. We very much hope that policy can be further expanded to include girls more fully. While girls are allowed into some programs, they are still excluded from joining Cub Packs or Scout Troops, joining the Boy Scout honor society, earning merit badges, and competing to earn the organization’s highest rank – that of Eagle Rank."

The United States, Ossorio pointed out, is one of the only countries in the world that does not offer the opportunity for co-ed Scouting throughout a young person’s Scouting career. The World Organization of the Scout Movement has been greatly expanded and enriched because of its inclusion of all young people, she said.

"We have had the opportunity to work closely with Sydney Ireland, a fifteen-year old Scout who has been championing an inclusive policy at the Boy Scouts since she was twelve years old. She displays the conviction, character and tenacity that you look for in Eagle Scouts. Being able to achieve Eagle ranking is this young woman’s goal. However, the longer it takes the Boy Scouts of America leadership to seriously look at options for expanding Scouting to girls, the less likely she will ever be able to fulfill this dream. That window will close for Sydney in the very near future," Ossorio wrote.

When asked for comment, Effie Delimarkos, Director of National Communications for the Boy Scouts of America responded, “As an organization, we know the values and lessons of Scouting are attractive to the entire family, and we are committed to identifying program options that will help us truly serve the needs of today’s families. This is an area that we will continue to thoughtfully evaluate in order to bring the benefits of Scouting to the greatest number of youth possible – all while remaining true to our mission and core values, outlined in the Scout Oath and Law.”

Stephenson did not immediately return a request for comment.

Sydney's dream

In August, Sydney spoke about her dream to Patch: She'd like to be able to join the Boy Scouts of America and strive toward earning her Eagle Scout badge, scouting's highest rank.

Sydney says at a time when a woman ran for the nation's highest office as president of the United States, shattering the boundaries and allowing girls into Boy Scouts just shouldn't be such a big deal.

To that end, she's created a petition on change.org, "Tell the Boy Scouts to End Discrimination Against Young Women." She needs 156 more individuals to sign before reaching 5,000.

"I cannot change my gender to fit the Boy Scouts’ standards, but the Boy Scouts can change their standards to include me. I am determined to be an Eagle Scout. It isn’t just a hobby, it’s access to some of the best leadership training there is," Sydney wrote on change.org.

According to the BSA, she said, more than half of all astronauts were involved in Scouting and 16.3 percent of West Point cadets are Eagle Scouts. In addition, she said, of the current Congress, 191 members were involved in Scouting, 18 current United States governors participated in Scouting, and many of them are Eagle Scouts.

"The facts say it all — high-level Scouting creates opportunity, and with opportunity comes a chance at success in the global community," the petition says. "Unfortunately, for me and half the country’s population, we are excluded from most of these amazing opportunities for no reason other than that we are female. That’s why I’m calling on the BSA to end the discriminatory ban against young women and girls, and allow all children to participate in the Boy Scouts and earn the Eagle Rank."

Boy Scouts of America's 2016 response

In a comment to Patch in 2016 Delimarkos, said the Boy Scouts of America was chartered by Congress in 1916 to serve boys and young men across the nation through the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts programs, which are year-round programs for boys in the first grade through age 18.

"We have since developed alternative programs that are co-ed, such as Venturing, but to change the Cub or Boy Scouting programs would go outside the bounds of our charter," she said, last year.

Speaking to Patch in 2016, Sydney said she has been involved with Boy Scout activities since she was 4 years old and her brother Bryan was 6, when he was a Cub Scout.

"I was an unofficial member," she said, even earning her "unofficial Arrow of Light" at the age of 11. "I did all the work, but they didn't recognize me because I'm a girl. I wanted to join Boy Scouts but I was shut out."

Sydney is a member of a Canadian troop in Ontario, where the Scouts Canada program is co-ed.

"I've been going every summer for the past three years. It's very similar to Boy Scouts here except it's co-ed. Almost every country in the world is co-ed," she said.

Her father Ireland added, "All we're really asking is for Boy Scouts to join the world and allow in girls. That's not that big of a stretch."

Women are world leaders, Sydney pointed out. "So why should they be so behind in this issue?"

Some, however, do not agree, taking to social media to ask Sydney why she can't just be happy with Girl Scouts and maintain the status quo.

As for those who counter by asking why Sydney can't just join the Girl Scouts, she responded, "I'm not too familiar with Girl Scouts, but Boy Scouts also has the Eagle Rank. I know there's an equivalent in Girl Scouts, as well, but I want girls to have to have the choice to join whatever program they want."

Her dad added, "We draw the analogy to Ivy League schools. Many were single-gender until recently." Once single-gender institutions of higher learning such as Barnard and Columbia have thrived with a co-ed student populations, he said.

Sydney, a student at the Nightingale-Bamford School on New York City's Upper West Side, attends Boy Scout events with her brother and father at Troop 414 in Manhattan, participating as a member of the World Fellowship of Scouting.