Scouting America Shifts Gender Policy for Pentagon

Applicants must join under the biological sex they were assigned at birth, Hegseth announces
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 27, 2026 8:51 AM CST
Scouting America Shifts Gender Policy for Pentagon
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth enters the House Chamber before President Trump delivers the State of the Union address Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026.   (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

Scouting America will alter several policies at the urging of the Pentagon, including a requirement that members use "biological sex at birth and not gender identity," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday in a video. The concessions mean Hegseth will not follow through on his threat to end the Pentagon's long-standing ties with the organization, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America. However, he said a review will be conducted in six months, per the AP.

"Ideally I believe the Boy Scouts should go back to being the Boy Scouts as originally founded, a group that develops boys into men," said Hegseth. "Maybe someday." In the video, the defense chief reiterated his complaints, again accusing the organization of becoming too "woke," citing its "embrace of DEl and other social justice, gender-fluid ideological stances."

Some of the changes mirror what the organization suggested to the Defense Department in January, which included discontinuing its Citizenship in Society merit badge and introducing a Military Service merit badge as well as waiving registration fees for the children of military personnel. But the big one stipulates that the organization must require all applicants to join under the biological sex they were assigned at birth.

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