Transgender Eagle Scouts can now change the name on their certificates
"I’m really grateful that it’s happening, and I knew that it would," said one trans Scouter who helped advocate for the change.
The national Scout Shop of the BSA is now allowing transgender Eagle Scouts to request a name change on their official Eagle Scout card, certificate, and congratulatory letter.
While the name-change-request page itself makes no mention of transgender individuals, an internal email thread from Scouts BSA leadership confirmed the new practice in late October. (Officials from Scouts BSA did not return a request for comment for this article.)
Cheryl Katon, a former scout executive from Boston and longtime advocate for LGBTQ inclusion, said it’s one of the many practices she wanted the organization to implement since it officially began allowing transgender members in 2017.
“If you’re going to accept trans kids, then what are the practices that are going to go along with that?” Katon said. Many of the early conversations were around logistics, like tenting and camping arrangements, according to Katon. But she had been pushing Scouts BSA leaders to think beyond that, about practices that would be affirming and welcoming for trans individuals.
Allowing name changes for Eagle Scouts was just one piece of the puzzle, in her view. “I’m really grateful that it’s happening, and I knew that it would,” Katon said.
Like many shifts in the BSA, Katon said she knew these types of changes would take time to implement — especially because the organization lacks a “blueprint” for welcoming and affirming marginalized communities. “I do think that they’re learning,” Katon said. “They know that they have to deal with these practical issues, these practices.”
Katon, who recently came out publicly as a trans woman, said she thinks it’s a good thing that the Eagle Scout name-change-request page is not explicit about gender.
“It’s not a trans policy, it’s a policy about people who change their name,” Katon said. Someone could just easily need to change it if they get married and take a new last name. While some people might find it affirming for the BSA to specifically mention trans individuals, Katon said she is at a point in her journey where changing her Eagle certificate is more of an errand, a box to check off quickly and easily.
Indeed, the number one remaining issue around gender in the BSA, in Katon’s view, is the lack of clarity for nonbinary youth. “They’ve got a policy that says you can join, and they’ve got nowhere to put them,” Katon said, referring to the way troops are still separated along binary gender lines and forced to “assign a gender” to nonbinary individuals.
“Out of the category of totally unacceptable, that is at the top of the list,” Katon said.
