In 2006, Brenda Watson resigned her rank as Eagle Scout. Watson, the only known out transgender Eagle Scout, has made inclusion in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) her life’s work.

Watson, along with three other Eagle Scouts who resigned their rank, were among the Scouting For All members outside the San Diego-Imperial Council BSA Center on Sunday rallying against what they call the organization’s discriminatory practices.

“I don’t think we all understand what each of them has sacrificed, or how important it is,” said longtime community activist Nicole Murray-Ramirez, of the former Eagle Scouts resigning their rank. “They worked their whole life for something, and gave it up on principle.”

“Discrimination against one is discrimination against all,” he said.

Mick Rabin, Bob Leyh and Howard Menzer, all former Eagle Scouts, joined Watson outside the BSA headquarters on Upas Street, along with a crowd of about 50 people, to raise awareness of the scouts’ ban on gay, lesbian and non-theist members, or members of gay, lesbian or non-theist parents.

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the BSA, as a private organization, is within its rights to ban gay and lesbian and non-theist members, or children of same-sex couples and non-theist parents.

And in 2001, the San Diego City Council voted to extend the group’s lease of property in Balboa Park for $1 per year for 40 years, despite a city ordinance barring it from contractual agreements with organizations that discriminate based on sexual orientation or religious beliefs.

“What is moral or American about discrimination or exclusion?” said “Daddy” Don Cherkis, a member of the Imperial Court de San Diego and former scout. “We’re asking the Boy Scouts to practice what they preach and stop imposing their narrow-minded philosophies on the youth of America … in 1967 I was proud to be a scout. Today, I am not proud … the Boy Scouts are instructing youth that discrimination is acceptable.”

Menzer, who was recently appointed president of Scouting For All, an advocacy organization promoting inclusion in scouting, said scouting is a wonderful program for kids – but that discrimination by the BSA is unacceptable.

“Scouting For All believes that scouting is a wonderful program,” said Menzer, in a statement. “Robert Baden-Powell, who founded the scouting movement in 1907, began the movement on the principle that scouting would be offered to all youth, providing them with an opportunity to grow and develop as individuals and to help make the world a better place. In this vein, we oppose bigotry and discrimination in scouting and seek to persuade the public to exert influence on the BSA to join the openness of world scouting so that all children and adults are once again welcome participants in the scouting program.”

Jennifer Schumaker, a lesbian and mother of two, said her 9-year-old son asked if he could join the scouts and if Schumaker would be his den mom. The scouts do not permit children of gay or lesbian parents or atheists to join.

Schumaker said the annual rally recharges Scouting For All each year.

“We’re knocking on the door, looking for pockets of acceptance,” she said. “We want no child left behind.”