Scott Walker: Boy Scouts' Ban on Gays 'Protected Children'

In the wake of the Boy Scouts of America's push to end its ban on having gay troop leaders, Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker is defending the ban.

"I was an Eagle Scout, my kids have been involved, Tonette (Walker) was a den mother," Walker said in a statement, according to the Independent Journal Review.

"I have had a lifelong commitment to the Scouts and support the previous membership policy because it protected children and advanced Scout values."

The Boy Scouts announced Monday its Executive Committee voted to eliminate the longstanding ban on having gay adults serve as both employees and volunteers of the group.

"This resolution will allow chartered organizations to select adult leaders without regard to sexual orientation, continuing Scouting's longstanding policy of chartered organizations selecting their leaders," a release from the Scouts reads. "The National Executive Board will meet to ratify this resolution on Monday, July 27."

Walker, the current governor of Wisconsin, was an Eagle Scout growing up and has referenced his time in the Scouts during numerous speeches.

Earlier this year, for example, Walker suggested that his time in the Boy Scouts prepared him to serve as president.

"America is an exceptional country," Walker said, according to Madison.com. "And I think, unfortunately, sometimes there are many in Washington who think those of us who believe we are exceptional means we are superior, that we're better than others in the world.

"And to me, much like my thought process of being an Eagle Scout is, no, being an exceptional country means we have a higher responsibility ... not just to care for ourselves and our own interests, but to lead in the world, to ensure that all freedom-loving people have the capacity, who yearn for that freedom, to have that freedom."

Walker also mentioned the Boy Scouts during his campaign announcement speech Monday.

In March, it was reported that California will ban its 2,200 judges from serving in the Boy Scouts in any capacity starting next year.

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