The Boy Scouts of America on Wednesday accepted its first transgender member, the Independent reported.
Joe Maldonado, 9, was originally denied a membership because of a 100-year-old Boy Scouts rule that based eligibility on the gender that appeared on the child's birth certificate. But that rule changed Jan. 30, when the BSA announced the change, saying they had done so based on states and communities changing how gender is defined.
Joe attended his first meeting in Essex County, New Jersey, this week.
"It was amazing," his mother Kristie Maldonado told the Independent. "They welcomed him. I can't believe it had to come to that point to get him back into the Cub Scouts."
Joe joined the Boy Scouts as an 8-year-old, but was told to leave after officials said parents had complained he was born a girl. At the time, Joe told his local newspaper the decision by the Boy Scouts made him mad.
"I had a sad face, but I wasn't crying," he said. "I'm way more angry than sad. My identity is a boy. If I was them, I would let every person in the world go in. It's right to do."
The Boy Scouts in 2013 ended its ban on gay scouts, passing a resolution "no youth may be denied membership" based on "sexual preference alone."
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