Amazon Pressed to Drop Boy Scouts From Donation Program

Amazon is facing pressure to eliminate the Boy Scouts of America from a company program that directs 0.5 percent of sales revenue to buyer-selected charities because of the organization’s ban on gay troop leaders, according to MSNBC.

As of Thursday, more than 105,000 people had signed a change.org petition calling on the e-commerce giant to drop the Boy Scouts from the list of nearly 1 million 501(c)(3) groups to which shoppers at AmazonSmile can direct funds. The petition was launched by Pascal Tessier, a Maryland teenager believed to be the first openly gay youth to be awarded Eagle Scout status.

The Boy Scouts voted last year to drop its longstanding exclusion on gay youth but maintains a ban on homosexual adults in leadership roles. The organization has remained a target of gay-rights groups and continued to lose corporate support over the two-tiered policy. Amazon has a reputation as a gay-friendly firm, receiving a 90 percent score on the most recent Corporate Equality Index issued by advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign.