Brighton Woman Fired for Being a Lesbian Takes Action

A 19-year-old Brighton woman who was fired last summer from a Michigan Boy Scout camp for being a lesbian is taking action against the organization.

Lauren Jasenak launched a new petition on Change.org, urging her local Boy Scout council to end the ban on gay youth and adult leaders. 

Jasenak, a former Boy Scout camp employee, was fired from the D-bar-A Boy Scout Ranch in Lapeer, a day after the Boy Scouts of America reaffirmed its policy banning gay youth and adult leaders in July, according to a press release from Change.org.

Forced to sign a letter stating she was a lesbian and leave her position immediately, Jasenak was without transportation and two hours from home, according to Change.org.

“As a 19-year-old, I am still in disbelief that the Boy Scouts discriminated against me. I didn't even realize you could be kicked out of the Boy Scouts for being gay,” Jasenak wrote on her petition on Change.org. “I felt alone and scared, but most importantly, I had no idea how my rabbit, Thumper, and I were going to get home.”

After a recent announcement that the Boy Scouts of America would be reconsidering their anti-gay policy, Jasenak said she decided to start her petition and is asking her local Boy Scout council to vote to end the ban during the Boy Scouts of America’s (BSA) National Council meeting this May. 

New signatures on Jasenak’s petition, which has been signed by more than 3,700 people, are also sent via email to her former employers, the D-bar-A Boy Scout Ranch director Bill Licht and Great Lakes Council Scout Executive Richard Fisher.