Joe Maldonado, a 9 year-old from New Jersey, has become the first transgender boy to join the Boy Scouts after the organization announced on January 30th that it will allow enrollment of transgender kids.
“I am accepted,” Joe Maldonado said Tuesday night as he put on a Cub Scout uniform and became a member of Pack 20 in Essex County, local newspaper reports.
The Boy Scouts’ longtime policy of determining eligibility based on the gender on birth certificates was challenged after Joe’s story gained national attention. He was thrown out of a Cub Scout pack in Secaucus last year because he was born a girl.
Two weeks ago, the Boy Scouts issued a statement changing its policy—a decision which is reportedly at least in part motivated by Joe’s story.
Earlier this week, the Boy Scouts said in a statement that the organization “is pleased to welcome Joe and the Maldonado family back into the Scouting community. Moving forward, the BSA will continue to work to bring the benefits of our programs to as many children, families and communities as possible.”
