The Los Angeles Police Department's Explorers youth program will end its nearly 50-year relationship with the Boys Scouts of America, pledging not to tolerate discrimination.
As of New Year's Day, LAPD Deputy Chief Earl Paysinger said the department will run the youth program under a different name independent of the Boy Scouts, with the program being funded in part through donations.
The Boy Scouts started the Explorers program in 1949 as a career-oriented program for boys.
The LAPD began participating in 1962. Since 1998, the LAPD has been running the Explorers program while Learning for Life - an organization created by the Boy Scouts - provided insurance coverage to participants.
But the Police Commission voted last month to sever ties with Learning for Life, saying the Boys Scouts' policy of barring gays, atheists and agnostics from being troop leaders violates the city's non-discrimination policies.
"It's bittersweet in the sense that the Boy Scouts or Learning for Life have been part of this for a long time - in name only - but the LAPD is committed to a better program and we can do that without having discrimination," said Police Commissioner Alan Skobin.
Commissioner Robert Saltzman, who is openly gay, said that because he cannot support the Boy Scouts, he has invested a lot of time to ensure the new youth program is "as good or - I'm confident - better than the program it replaces."
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