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Pete Hegseth threatens to cut funding to Scouting America over its gender-inclusive policies
With mere months left before Scouting America’s quadrennial national jamboree — a 10-day, 20,000-person event that depends on financial assistance from the U.S. Defense Department — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has threatened to cut all of his department’s support of the scouting organization unless it purges all of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives “and other social justice, gender-fluid ideological stances,” his spokesperson said.
For years, Hegseth has railed against Scouting America (formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America) for its embrace of diversity. He has called the group’s increasingly pro-LGBTQ+ policies “unacceptable.”
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Conservatives freak out over Boy Scouts’ gender-inclusive name change
“Back to God and country—immediately!” read a post to X by Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell. “They are on the clock, and we are watching,” he added, menacingly.
STATEMENT:
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellASW) February 3, 2026
From Day One at the War Department, we have made it very clear: No more DEI at DoW. Zero tolerance.
As a result, over the past several months, the Department of War has been reviewing its relationship with Scouting America—formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America.…
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“For more than a decade now, Scouting America’s leadership has made decisions that run counter to the values of this administration and this Department of War,” he said, writing for Hegseth and citing President Trump’s executive order “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.”
The executive order terminated what Parnell called “radical DEl preferencing in federal contracting.”
“All of our affiliations must meet this standard,” he said.
In 2013, Boy Scouts of America began admitting out gay scouts. Two years later, the organization lifted its ban on adults in leadership positions who are also “open or avowed homosexuals.” In 2017, the Boy Scouts announced girls would be accepted as Cub Scouts and later accepted into the flagship Boy Scout program.
Around the same time, the scouting organization began welcoming transgender boys into its boys-only programs.
Hegseth’s threat comes ahead of Scouting America’s quadrennial National Jamboree in the mountains of West Virginia this summer. The once-every-four-year camping summit relies on hundreds of West Virginia National Guard and active-duty service members for medical, security, and logistical support, The Washington Post reported.
While primarily commanded by the governor of West Virginia for state-level emergencies, the state’s National Guard also functions as a reserve component of the Army and Air Force, making it part of the U.S. Department of Defense.
Like Trump’s attacks on higher education, bending universities and colleges to the administration’s ideological will with threats to withhold federal funding, the scouts will suffer financially if they fail to comply.
Hegseth was not a member of Boy Scouts of America himself, but has been obsessed with the organization since at least his days as a co-host of the Fox & Friends Weekend show.
“This is a tragedy!” Hegseth ranted after Scouting America’s name change two years ago, laying the blame at the feet of “the left.”
“They didn’t want to improve it. They wanted to destroy it or dilute it into something that stood for nothing,” he said, before providing some hindsight irony: “As a result, the government gets more powerful to fill the void.”
Parnell claimed Scouting America and Hegseth’s “Department of War” are close to completing an agreement for the group to accede to demands to implement “common-sense, core value reforms.” He didn’t elaborate on what those were.
Sources told the Washington Post that negotiations between the Pentagon and Scouting America have been underway for several months. NBC News and NPR previously reported that the Pentagon was considering cutting ties with the Scouts.
Whether or not Scouting America will resist or relent, like other organizations and cultural institutions tormented by the administration over ideological demands, the group is making a show of conciliation as the Pentagon goes public with its threats.
“For nearly 116 years, Scouting has stood as a cornerstone of American ideals, good citizenship, service and adventure for American youth. We are encouraged by tonight’s social media post by the Pentagon and we look forward to providing more details as we move ahead,” Scouting America said in a statement to the Post late Monday.
In addition to the Jamboree support and other ties with the military, if Scouting America doesn’t comply, they could lose access to military facilities, denying military families’ children the opportunity to scout at military bases both domestic and abroad.
All military branches have a disproportionately high share of one-time scouts in their ranks.
A change in the Pentagon’s relationship status with Scouting America won’t be a unilateral decision on Hegseth’s part, however: Those ties are codified in law.
The U.S. Code authorizes the defense secretary to provide all support the Scouts might need at Jamboree to the extent that it “will not interfere with the requirements of military operations.”
It also states that the Pentagon requires a waiver from Congress if it intends to cut support, and to explain why giving the assistance “would be detrimental to the national security of the United States.”
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