Boy Scouts of America changing name to more inclusive Scouting America after years of woes

IRVING, Texas (AP) — The Boy Scouts of America announced after 114 years that it will change its name and will become Scouting America in an effort to emphasize inclusion as it works to move past the turmoil of bankruptcy and a flood of sexual abuse claims.

The rebrand is another seismic shift for an organization steeped in tradition that did not allow gay youths or girls to begin joining its ranks until relatively recently. Seeking to boost flagging membership numbers, the Irving, Texas-based organization announced the name change Tuesday at its annual meeting in Florida.

“In the next 100 years we want any youth in America to feel very, very welcome to come into our programs,” Roger Krone, who took over last fall as president and chief executive officer, told The Associated Press in an interview before the announcement.

The change will officially take effect on Feb. 8, 2025, timed to the organization's 115th birthday.

The organization began allowing gay youth in 2013 and ended a blanket ban on gay adult leaders in 2015. In 2017, it made the historic announcement that girls would be accepted as Cub Scouts as of 2018 and into the flagship Boy Scout program — renamed Scouts BSA — in 2019. Over 6,000 girls have now achieved the vaunted Eagle Scout rank.

The Girl Scouts of the USA, a separate organization, has clashed with the Boy Scouts in recent years over its recruitment of girls. The Girl Scouts did not respond to requests seeking comment Tuesday.

A wave of reaction to the change on social media included criticism that the word “boy” will no longer appear in the name, including from Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

Like other organizations, the Boy Scouts of America lost members during the pandemic, when participation was difficult. After a high point over the last decade of over 2 million members in 2018, the organization currently serves just over 1 million youths, including more than 176,000 girls and young women. Membership peaked in 1972 at almost 5 million.

Generations of scouts have included eventual presidents (among them Bill Clinton and Gerald Ford), astronauts (Buzz Aldrin) and celebrities (actor Harrison Ford, filmmaker Steven Spielberg). Krone said the organization must continue to attract newcomers.

“Part of my job is to reduce all the barriers I possibly can for people to accept us as an organization and to join,” he said.

There were nearly 1,000 young women in the inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts in 2021, including Selby Chipman. The all-girls troop she was a founding member of in her hometown of Oak Ridge, North Carolina, has grown from five girls to nearly 50, and she thinks the name change will encourage even more girls to join.

“Girls were like: ‘You can join Boy Scouts of America?’” said Chipman, now a 20-year-old college student and assistant scoutmaster of her troop.

Rebranding can risk alienating supporters who think the change is unnecessary, said David Aaker, vice chairman of the national branding and marketing firm Prophet. But he described the Boy Scouts' rebranding as savvy, saying it kickstarts a new conversation about the organization while not being so drastic that it strays too far from its original scouting mission.

“It’s a one-time chance to tell a new story,” said Aaker, who also is a professor emeritus at the University of California-Berkeley Haas business school.

The move to accept girls throughout the Boy Scout ranks strained a bond with the Girl Scouts of the USA, which sued, saying it created marketplace confusion and damaged its recruitment efforts. They reached a settlement agreement after a judge rejected those claims, saying both groups are free to use words like “scouts” and “scouting.”

Past pressure to allow girls into the Boy Scouts had come from those including the National Organization for Women, which applauded Tuesday's announcement.

Much of the online criticism invoked the word “woke,” including Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Georgia Republican, who said on X: “Wokeness destroys everything it touches."

But Lois Alvar, a 20-year-old Eagle Scout and assistant scoutmaster from the Dallas area, said the new name helps all scouts feel accepted. “Having it nationally recognized that girls are being welcomed and included in scouting allows it to be a more safe space, just in general,” she said.

The Boy Scouts’ $2.4 billion bankruptcy reorganization plan took effect last year, allowing the organization to keep operating while compensating the more than 80,000 men who say they were sexually abused as children while in scouting.

Although the organization won't officially become Scouting America until next year, Krone said he expects people will start immediately using the name.

“It sends this really strong message to everyone in America that they can come to this program, they can bring their authentic self, they can be who they are and they will be welcomed here,” Krone said.

Kendria LaFleur contributed to this report from Dallas and Jim Vertuno contributed from Austin.

Selby Chipman, 20-year-old, speaks at the Boys Scouts of America annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Chipman, a student at the University of Missouri, is an Inaugural Female Eagle Scout and the Assistant Scoutmaster for an all girls troop 8219 in Oak Ridge, N.C. The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. (AP Photo/Kevin Kolczynski)

Selby Chipman, 20-year-old, speaks at the Boys Scouts of America annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Chipman, a student at the University of Missouri, is an Inaugural Female Eagle Scout and the Assistant Scoutmaster for an all girls troop 8219 in Oak Ridge, N.C. The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. (AP Photo/Kevin Kolczynski)

Selby Chipman, 20-year-old, speaks at the Boys Scouts of America annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, May 7, 2024. The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. (AP Photo/Kevin Kolczynski)

Selby Chipman, 20-year-old, speaks to the Boys Scouts of America annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Chipman, a student at the University of Missouri, is an inaugural female Eagle Scout and the Assistant Scoutmaster for an all girls troop 8219 in Oak Ridge, N.C. The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. (AP Photo/Kevin Kolczynski)

Selby Chipman, 20-year-old, speaks to the Boys Scouts of America annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Chipman, a student at the University of Missouri, is an Inaugural female Eagle Scout and the Assistant Scoutmaster for an all girls troop 8219 in Oak Ridge, N.C. The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. (AP Photo/Kevin Kolczynski)

Selby Chipman, 20-year-old, speaks to the Boys Scouts of America annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Chipman, a student at the University of Missouri, is an inaugural female Eagle Scout and the Assistant Scoutmaster for an all girls troop 8219 in Oak Ridge, N.C. The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. (AP Photo/Kevin Kolczynski)

Selby Chipman, 20-years-old, speaks to the Boys Scouts of America annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Chipman, a student at the University of Missouri, is and Inaugural female Eagle Scout and the Assistant Scoutmaster for an all girls troop 8219 in Oak Ridge, NC. The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name to Scouting America for the first time in its 114-year history. (AP Photo/Kevin Kolczynski)

FILE - Cars drive past the Boys Scouts of America headquarters in Irving, Texas, Feb. 12, 2020. The U.S. organization, which now welcomes girls into the program and allows them to work toward the coveted Eagle Scout rank, announced Tuesday, May 7, 2024, that it will change its name to Scouting America as it focuses on inclusion. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

FILE - A woman walks out of the Boy Scouts of America national headquarters building in Irving, Texas, Nov. 1, 2019. The U.S. organization, which now welcomes girls into the program and allows them to work toward the coveted Eagle Scout rank, announced Tuesday, May 7, 2024, that it will change its name to Scouting America as it focuses on inclusion. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

Roger Krone, president and chief executive officer of the Boy Scouts of America, poses at the organizations headquarters in Irving, Texas, Monday, April 29, 2024. The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. It's a significant shift as the organization emerges from bankruptcy following a flood of sexual abuse claims and seeks to focus on inclusion. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Roger Krone, president and chief executive officer of the Boy Scouts of America, responds to questions during an interview at the organizations headquarters in Irving, Texas, Monday, April 29, 2024. The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. It's a significant shift as the organization emerges from bankruptcy following a flood of sexual abuse claims and seeks to focus on inclusion. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

FILE - A sign marks the headquarters for the French Creek Council of the Boy Scouts of America in Summit Township in Erie County, Pa. The U.S. organization, which now welcomes girls into the program and allows them to work toward the coveted Eagle Scout rank, announced Tuesday, May 7, 2024, that it will change its name to Scouting America as it focuses on inclusion. (Christopher Millette/Erie Times-News via AP, File)

Roger Krone, president and chief executive officer of the Boy Scouts of America, responds to questions during an interview at the organizations headquarters in Irving, Texas, Monday, April 29, 2024. The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. It's a significant shift as the organization emerges from bankruptcy following a flood of sexual abuse claims and seeks to focus on inclusion.(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

FILE - A Boy Scout uniform is displayed, Feb. 18, 2020, in the retail store at the headquarters for the French Creek Council of the Boy Scouts of America in Summit Township, Erie County, Pa. The U.S. organization, which now welcomes girls into the program and allows them to work toward the coveted Eagle Scout rank, announced Tuesday, May 7, 2024, that it will change its name to Scouting America as it focuses on inclusion. (Christopher Millette/Erie Times-News via AP, File)

FILE - Merit badges and a rainbow-colored neckerchief slider are affixed on a Boy Scout uniform outside the headquarters of Amazon in Seattle. The U.S. organization, which now welcomes girls into the program and allows them to work toward the coveted Eagle Scout rank, announced Tuesday, May 7, 2024, that it will change its name to Scouting America as it focuses on inclusion. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a “hard landing” on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without elaborating.

Raisi was traveling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State TV said the incident happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Traveling with Raisi were Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran's East Azerbaijan province and other officials, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. One local government official used the word “crash” to describe the incident, but he acknowledged to an Iranian newspaper that he had yet to reach the site himself.

Neither IRNA nor state TV offered any information on Raisi’s condition.

“The esteemed president and company were on their way back aboard some helicopters and one of the helicopters was forced to make a hard landing due to the bad weather and fog," Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in comments aired on state TV. "Various rescue teams are on their way to the region but because of the poor weather and fogginess it might take time for them to reach the helicopter.”

He added: "The region is a bit (rugged) and it’s difficult to make contact. We are waiting for rescue teams to reach the landing site and give us more information.”

Rescuers were attempting to reach the site, state TV said, but had been hampered by poor weather conditions. There had been heavy rain and fog reported with some wind. IRNA called the area a “forest” and the region is known to be mountainous as well.

Raisi had been in Azerbaijan early Sunday to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev. The dam is the third one that the two nations built on the Aras River. The visit came despite chilly relations between the two nations, including over a gun attack on Azerbaijan's Embassy in Tehran in 2023, and Azerbaijan's diplomatic relations with Israel, which Iran's Shiite theocracy views as its main enemy in the region.

Iran flies a variety of helicopters in the country, but international sanctions make it difficult to obtain parts for them. Its military air fleet also largely dates back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Raisi, 63, is a hard-liner who formerly led the country’s judiciary. He is viewed as a protégé of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and some analysts have suggested he could replace the 85-year-old leader after his death or resignation from the role.

Raisi won Iran's 2021 presidential election, a vote that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history. Raisi is sanctioned by the U.S. in part over his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war.

Under Raisi, Iran now enriches uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels and hampers international inspections. Iran has armed Russia in its war on Ukraine, as well as launched a massive drone-and-missile attack on Israel amid its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It also has continued arming proxy groups in the Mideast, like Yemen's Houthi rebels and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

FILE- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi places his hands on his heart as a gesture of respect to the crowd during the funeral ceremony of the victims of Wednesday's bomb explosion in the city of Kerman about 510 miles (820 kms) southeast of the capital Tehran, Iran, Jan. 5, 2024. A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a “hard landing” on Sunday, May 19, 2024, Iranian state television reported, without immediately elaborating. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)