"Hegseth took time out from planning a war with Iran to take on Scouting America and policies that the Secretary of Defense finds objectionable. Hegseth's rationale for dictating the behavior of a private organization? Dollars the Defense Department provides to help with the Scouts' annual Jamboree in the mountains of West Virginia, and a long, now-threatened, synergistic relationship with the military."
"In January, Scouting America responded to the rumors, quietly offering to dial back programming the secretary found objectionable to maintain their longstanding ties to the military. Negotiations ensued, punctuated by public threats from Hegseth over terms he apparently didn't find acceptable."
""Back to God and country-immediately!" read a post to X by Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell in February. "They are on the clock," Parnell said of the Scouts, about an unspoken deadline on a deal. "And we are watching.""
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth used his influence to pressure Scouting America into policy changes aligned with his ideological preferences. Hegseth objected to what he characterized as the organization's "woke" ideology, particularly following its name change two years prior. Leveraging Department of Defense funding for the annual Jamboree and the military's longstanding relationship with Scouting America, Hegseth threatened consequences if the organization did not comply. In January, Scouting America began negotiations to modify programming deemed objectionable by the secretary. Pentagon officials issued public warnings about deadlines and monitoring. Ultimately, Scouting America agreed to ban transgender children from joining according to their gender identity and dissolved its DEI board committee, capitulating to Hegseth's demands.
Read at LGBTQ Nation
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