Eagle Scout Zach Wahls founded
Scouts for Equality organization to pressure
the Boy Scouts of America to change their policy.
This is how you make social change!
In response to pressure from LGBT advocates, including Zach Wahls and GLAAD, Intel Corporation has announced they will no longer be supporting the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) over disagreement with its discriminatory policy that excludes gay and lesbian members and leaders. This statement was released to Think Progress, and attributed to Intel’s Chief Diversity Officer, Rosalind Hudnell:
Intel and the Intel Foundation give millions of dollars annually to great organizations doing valuable service around the globe. Intel has not provided funding to the National Boy Scouts of America organization. The $700,000 in funding from the Intel Foundation was donated to local Boy Scout troops or councils where our employees volunteer their time, through our volunteer matching grants program.
In an effort to recognize our employees commitment to the communities we call home, Intel expanded its volunteer matching grants program in 2009. Through it, Intel matches the amount of time employees’ volunteer with non-profits with dollars from the Intel Foundation. Due to significant growth in the number of organizations funded, earlier this year we revisited our policies associated with the program, and applied new rigor that requires any organization to confirm that it adheres to Intel’s anti-discrimination policy in order to receive funding.
Intel is committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and to supporting the communities in which we live and work.
Think Progress reports:
This year, for the first time, prospective recipients of Intel grants will have to sign a statement confirming that they do not discriminate based on creed or sexual orientation, and any groups that cannot do so will be ineligible for funding.
The response from Intel swift, coming in just a day after
Wahls and advocates approached the company publicly. It appears the reexamining of the policy was in the works.
Intel Corporation was BSA's largest corporate benefactor, donating up to $700,000 to the Boy Scouts in 2010. This chart was created by Think Progress:
That's gonna leave a mark.
Bigger than the single financial hit, this announcement will provide pressure down the donation chain. Like Intel, they will be under pressure to be sure their corporate sponsorship comports with their own corporate culture. Many, perhaps most of those corporations have non-discrimination that put them at odds with the BSA.
It's also a pretty public black eye on the BSA, rather like when the president of the James Beard Foundation, Susan Ungaro, returned an award because she wished to express her disapproval.
It is fast becoming unfashionable to have discriminatory policies such as the Boy Scouts practice if they wish to stay relevant they will have to evolve.