Its a damn shame what the organization has turned into. At one time, I would have loved to have my son in Scouts and to be an assistant SM myself, but certainly no more. I cannot support the organization anymore.
For any of you who have been in active Cub Scout Packs the last 5-10 years, you know that girls have been participating already at events and outings, primarily as siblings. Many sisters were already doing the same activities that their Cub Scout brothers were doing, but not getting any credit or recognition for it. Now they can. Cub Scout camping has been "family style" for years and that won't change either. With the inclusion of girls, officially, into Cubs, there were some logistical and psychological issues that needed to be addressed, knowing that boys and girls mature at different rates through adolescence. BSA's solution was to offer Cub Scouts in three different ways; (1) boy Cub Scout Packs, (2) girl Cub Scout Packs and (3) family Cub Scout Packs. In both the boy and girl Cub Scout Packs, all members of that pack would be single gender. Only in family Cub Scout Packs would there be any level of "dual-gender" interaction and even then, there is to be some separation, as Dens (as sub-group of a Cub Scout Pack) would remain single gender. So you will have a boy Wolf den and a girl Wolf den. A boy Bear den and a girl Bear den....and so forth. Each existing (boy) Cub Pack, along with its Charter Organization, would make the decision to remain single-gender (boy) or convert to family Cub Scouts. They are not being forced to take girls in an existing Pack. There will be new units that will be girl Cub Scout Packs, which means there will be at least one of those in the Auburn area. They are working to find a Charter Organization to partner with for this new girl Cub Scout Pack.
As for us, Boy Scout Troops, there was even a higher concern about the mixing of boys and girls in our program, but BSA knew it needed somewhere for all the girl Cub Scouts to go once they earned Arrow of Light. The mixing of genders in our age bracket was a heavy concern across the board (more so for some of us). So they decided to have girl "Boy Scout Troops" (now referred to as: a girl troop in Scouts BSA). We, Troop 371, will be a boy troop in Scouts BSA (though we will take our time converting our verbiage). As has been the case, our Charter organization (in our case, Lakeview Baptist Church) will continue to set standards for membership of our Troop. That hasn't changed. We will not have girls in Troop 371. This does mean there will eventually be girl Scout troops in the Auburn area. They will be working towards the same rank and merit badge requirements that the boys have been doing (and will continue to do so). They will have the opportunity to earn Eagle Scout. They will have to attend long-term and short-term camping, meaning that eventually, they'll attend summer camps. One thing that we haven't got a grip on is how will this affect summer camps and other multi-unit camping events (like camporees). I'd guess that some summer camps, due to logistical and facility issues that they may have separate weeks for boy troops and girl troops. Other camps may operate some co-ed camps. But honestly, I don't know. I'm guessing that each Council that operates a summer camp will have some hard decisions to make regarding that, based on their facilities and other logistical challenges.
