Boy Scouts of America files for bankruptcy amid child sexual abuse scandal

The Boy Scouts of America – which long banned LGBT+ members – has filed for bankruptcy.

CNN reports that The Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy in Delaware bankruptcy court early Tuesday.

The youth organization listed liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million, but $50,000 or less in assets.

The organisation has been facing hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits with thousands of alleged abuse victims. Meanwhile, membership numbers have been falling.

Now the victims will not get their day in court as the bankruptcy proceedings suspend all civil litigation against the organization.

Boy Scouts lifts bans on girls and gays

Today’s news also comes at a time when the organization has been changing. For years it refused to admit girls and gay people to its scouting programs. The issue was a major controversy in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The ban on being a scout applied to ‘known or avowed homosexuals’. And the organization also banned adult ‘open or avowed homosexuals’ from being leaders.

The Boy Scouts of America lifted the ban on gay youth membership in 2014 and on gay adult scout leaders in 2015.

Then in January 2017 the BSA announced transgender boys could enroll in boys-only programs, effective immediately.

Previously, you could only join a boy’s program if your birth certificate listed you as male. Now, the BSA decided it should be only what gender you use on the application form that counts.

Meanwhile, the BSA also started lifting the ban on girls joining the various scout groups.

12,000 child abuse victims

Right now, the BSA is one of the largest youth organizations in the US. It has around 2.3 million youth participants and a million adult volunteers.

It has also just celebrated its 110th anniversary on 8 February. Since it was founded in 1910, around 110 million Americans have participated in the BSA.

But in recent years, an even greater controversy has overtaken it.

Last April it emerged that the BSA itself believed that more than 7,800 of its former leaders have been involved in sexually abusing scouts. The exposed court testimony showed more than 12,000 children have been victims over the course of 72 years.

It is possible the total number of victims will even eclipse the number abused by Catholic clergy.

Victims with outstanding cases will no longer have their day in court with a jury trial of the facts. Instead, they will have to file claims in bankruptcy court.

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