Pete Hegseth is the Secretary of War for the United States. Hegseth has accused Scouting America of “Attacking boy-friendly spaces.”
Hegseth has also stated that he believes that, “The organization once endorsed by President Theodore Roosevelt no longer supports the future of American boys.”
This is just sexism from someone who does not understand not only what Scouting America is set to teach, but the morals that the organization is built upon.
Hegseth accused Scouting America of being “genderless.”
These are interesting statements from Hegseth, who has never been involved in Scouting America.
Scouting America is built around the Scout Oath and Law. These are both repeated at the beginning of every meeting, following the pledge of allegiance.
A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. The qualities of the Scout Law are things that everyone should live by, but do not need to be defined by gender. Boys aren’t the only people who can benefit from being kind or cheerful; everyone can benefit from this.
In 2019, I remember all the controversy around girls joining Scouting. I remember leaders talking about how it would over complicate everything and how girls had Girl Scouts and did not need to be in Boy Scouts. These leaders could not be more wrong.
Rosalie Beneveg is a Scout out of Troop 7327 in Hudson, Ohio. Beneveg has been in Scouting America for several years now and disagrees with Hegseth.
“I think the government is wrong to threaten a nonpartisan organization that focuses on the development and education of its young people,” Beneveg said.
Hegseth has threatened to cut all government funding and support to scouting activities. He has also threatened to not have any speakers at the National Jamboree, which is a scouting event that attracts over 20,000 scouts from across the country. Historically, a government figure, including the president, has spoken at this event.
Beneveg believes that Hegseth is being offensive with his words about Scouting.
“As a girl in Scouting, I find the wording ‘attacking boy-friendly spaces’ to be extremely petty and uncouth,” Beneveg said.
As an Eagle Scout and a member of Scouting America for over a decade, I can say that I have never once felt attacked or unsafe in a scouting environment.
“I think it is ridiculous how blatantly sexist someone like Pete Hegseth can be and get away with it,” Izzy Serna, a scout out of troop 7407 in Brunswick, said about Hegseth’s comments.
Girl Scouts is also not a viable alternative to Scouting America.
“I remember our Girl Scout meetings when I was young being about friendship and art,” Serna said about the differences between Girl Scouts and Scouting America, “It [Girl Scouts] isn’t a bad thing, but I wanted to make a fire and pitch a tent.”
Scouting America activities are more outdoors-oriented than those of Girl Scouts.
Scouting builds a sense of comradery that no other organization or sport can match.
Scouting holds a special place in my heart. It helped me make friends when I was an awkward pre-teen, and it got me out of the house. I learned how to do so much with my friends, and I am a better person because of Scouting. I became an Eagle Scout in 2024, and I’m still finding ways to give back to Scouting and I will continue to do so because I know what the program did for me and how it can help other people.
“Scouts saved my life,” Serna said about the impact being involved in Scouting America has had on her, “I was in an extremely dark place and lost my spark, something that only came back once I joined Scouts.”
I have been a scout since 2016, when I joined Cub Scout Pack 3402 with some of my best friends. I remember joining, I wanted to have fun and go camping more with my friends. As I experienced all that scouting had to offer, I encountered learning opportunities that I would not have found anywhere else. I learned how to start fires using just a pharaoh rod and some twigs. I learned how to safely operate a pocket knife and was taught the importance of safety around knives and firearms.
Most importantly, I was able to do all this with my friends and the other scouts around me. Once I joined the Boy Scouts, I became part of Troop 402, which included many of the same friends I had before in Pack 3402. Now, I would be away from my parents for days at a time, which would teach me a lot.
I learned leadership skills and how to get a group of people to perservere through anything. I learned how to educate my fellow scouts and ensured they had as good of an experience as I did.
Troop 402 is a boy-led troop, and now that we were away from adults, we learned a lot. Every camp out we did, every event we attended was planned by the scouts, and I came to love this style of leadership.
Girls should be able to learn and experience the same things I did. When girls joined scouting in 2019, it was a huge boost to an organization that had struggled to attract members in the past. It adds more kids to an organization that focuses on building leaders and good people.
According to Scouting America, as of January 2026, Scouting has over 176,000 girls chartered in the program. This is almost 15% of Scouting America’s total membership. Losing girls in Scouting wouldn’t just be sexist, it would be detrimental to the organization.
I will continue to stay invested in the future of Scouting, whether our government supports Scouting America’s goals or not. However, it hurts that the government that has worked so closely with Scouting America for over 100 years is so quick to disregard all Scouting does for the community.
