We aren't really sure how they came to this conclusion and may never will, but The Boy Scouts of America have announced that upholding a ban on gays is really the best thing for them, thanks to what they learned from a "confidential review" of the matter. Since 2010 an 11-member special committee has been evaluating the policy and today the organization announced the group "came to the conclusion that this policy is absolutely the best policy for the Boy Scouts," the organization’s national spokesman, Deron Smith, told The Associated Press today. Keeping the methodology and conclusions secret will not persuade those affected by the ban, like camp counselor Eric Jones who had been a Boy Scouts member for 10 years and the lesbian Ohio Cub Scout mother Jennifer Tyrell who had to resign because of their sexuality. But we may never find out who or what criteria will be used, since the AP reports that "The Scouts did not identify the members of the special committee that studied the issue." And The Scouts themselves said in a statement: "The review included forthright and candid conversation and extensive research and evaluations — both from within Scouting and from outside of the organization."  Now, obviously the ban doesn't change much since it just upholds the discriminatory and unpopular policy--an online petition calling for Tyrell's reinstatement and a policy change currently has some 300,000 signatures--but it put more pressure on high-powered Boy Scout board members like Ernst & Young CEO James Turley and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson who have publicly announced an opposition to the ban and, according to the AP, "recently indicated they would try to work from within to change the policy." 

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Alexander Abad-Santos