An 8-year-old transgender boy has sued his local New Jersey Boy Scouts' Council for discrimination after he was kicked out of his Cub Scout troop.
The suit, filed by the boy and his mother Kristie Maldonado, claims the Boy Scouts of America Northern New Jersey Council violated the state's law against discrimination.
Joe Maldonado was accepted into Pack 87 in Secacus in October, but expelled in November following complantes from parents, according to The Record.
Boy Scouts of America Spokeswoman Effie Delimarkos has previously said in a statement to NBC New York that Joe doesn't meet the eligibility requirements to participate in the Cub Scout program. However, the organization did offer information on alternative program options.
"The BSA grants youth membership to Cub Scout to boys in the first through fifth grades, or 7 to 10 years of age," she said. "If needed we defer to the information provided for an individual's birth certificate and their biological sex."
She added that scouting "teaches its youth members and adult leaders to be respectful of other people and individual beliefs."
In a statement earlier this month, Delimarkos said the organization does not restrict members based on sexual orientation, but considers gender identity a separate issue, and that Cub Scout programs are for those identified as boys on their birth certificates.
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Earlier this year, the Boy Scouts told The Associated Press that it would admit transgender children to its coeducational programs, but not to programs that are for boys only, like the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.
