Pentagon Forces Scouting America to Drop Diversity Programs

The Pentagon will keep funding Scouting America. In exchange, the youth organization has to gut its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made the announcement on February 26. He'd been threatening to pull all Pentagon support from the group formerly known as Boy Scouts of America. His issue was what he called DEI creeping into the organization.

Scouting America caved. They signed an agreement to comply with President Trump's executive order banning DEI efforts in public and private sectors.

What Gets Eliminated

All DEI language disappears from programs and publications. The "citizenship in society" merit badge is gone. That badge taught Scouts about the benefits of diversity, equity, inclusion, and ethical leadership.

A military service merit badge replaces it.

Membership applications change too. Only two options now—male or female. The selection has to match what's on the applicant's birth certificate. Hegseth spelled this out explicitly in his announcement.

The irony is thick. Scouting America rebranded in 2024 specifically to be more inclusive. Now they're stripping inclusion language to keep federal money.

How the Deal Went Down

Hegseth was ready to cut them off completely. He said so in a video announcement. But he decided to meet with leadership first and lay out his concerns.

Scouting America agreed to what Hegseth called "key reforms" after talking with Department of War officials. That's what the Pentagon is called now. It used to be Department of Defense.

CEO Roger Krone framed it as strengthening their partnership with the military. He said they spent several months in talks about how to better serve military families while updating programs to comply with the executive order.

What Survives

Girls aren't getting kicked out. Krone emphasized this point. The organization started letting girls join Cub Scouts in 2018 and Boy Scouts in 2019. They now have over 200,000 girl members.

Krone said girls have been part of Scouting since the 1960s as leaders and program developers. That's not changing.

So girls stay. But teaching about diversity has to go. Applications get limited to birth sex designations. The merit badge about inclusion gets replaced with one about military service.

The Pressure Campaign

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell started this in early February. He wrote that Scouting America is a great organization that's "lost its way."

His complaint was that leadership has been embracing DEI and what he called "gender-fluid ideological stances" for over a decade. Decisions that run counter to Trump administration values.

"We have made it very clear: No more DEI at (DOW)," Parnell wrote on X February 2.

That was the warning shot. Hegseth followed up with the threat to cut all support. Scouting America calculated the cost of resistance and decided it was too high.

This is what happens when federal funding comes with ideological requirements. Organizations comply or lose the money. Scouting America complied.

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