Hegseth says Boy Scouts agreed to his ‘Back to Basics’ calls for over DEI and transgender — and can add a brand new benefit badge
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has said that Scouting America, formerly known as the Boy Scouts, is agreeing to several “key reforms” in exchange for maintaining federal funding.
In a video posted to X captioned “The Department of War has officially put Scouting America on notice,” Secretary Hegseth announced that the group will no longer recognise transgender children and will remove its Citizenship in Society merit badge, which made it mandatory for those with the rank of Life Scout to “realize the benefits of diversity, equity, inclusion and ethical leadership.”
Scouting America is a youth leadership program founded in 1910. It aims to “prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law,” per the Scouting America website.
The former Fox News host accused the organisation of “[Losing] their way,” and becoming “gravely wounded,” after they loosened their policies on accepting gay children in 2013 and girls in 2018.
In his video, he said: “Scouting became an organisation that no longer supported and celebrated boys…along the way standards were lowered and merit destroyed in favour of an insidious, radical, woke ideology that is anti-America, and anti-American.”
Scouting America responded via press release, stating: “Throughout this engagement, Scouting America held firm on the core commitments that define us. We maintained our name as ‘Scouting America’ and preserved our service to the more than 200,000 girls who participate in our programs. Girls have been an integral part of Scouting since the 1960s and have served as leaders and program developers for decades. That commitment is unwavering. ”
The organisation added that it is waiving registration fees for military families and launching a new merit badge focused on military service and veterans.
The group did not comment on their future treatment of transgender scouts or on whether they are removing their Citizenship in Society badge. Scouting America has been contacted for further comment.
Since the organisation receives federal funding from the Department of War, Hegseth has said he can pull funds due to its perceived failure to comply with the Trump Administration’s executive order on “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” the same order that enabled the administration to pull funding from higher education and research programmes.
In his video, Secretary Hegseth drew a causal link from 10 million boys participating in the Boy Scouts in 1970 to only 1 million boys and girls being members today, citing diversity and inclusion measures as the reason fewer people wanted to join.
There is no evidence that opening up the programme to more people lessened its membership.
Since 1970, the organization has faced numerous sexual abuse allegations. The group filed for bankruptcy in 2020 and received a $2.4 billion bankruptcy plan, which enabled them to keep operating while compensating more than 80,000 people who filed claims alleging they endured sexual abuse while in the Boy Scouts.
Additionally, membership across many more in-person organisations in the U.S., other than just Scouting America, has been cratering for decades. This was discussed in Professor Robert Putnam’s seminal 2000 work, Bowling Alone, which argued that the country was becoming increasingly disconnected and less involved in civic life.
This is not the first time that the Pentagon has threatened Scouting America. In November 2025, Hegseth criticised the organisation for staging an “attack on boy-friendly spaces,” and in early February 2026, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell warned the organisation about pulling its funding if it did not comply with “common sense.”
Source: independent.co.uk
