Italian Catholic Scouts Allow LGBT Leaders to Hold Leadership Positions for the First Time

The Italian Association of Catholic Guides and Scouts (AGESCI) will allow LGBT people to hold leadership and educational positions in the organization for the first time. The association announced this decision in a document published on May 28, 2026. Previously, LGBT people could participate in AGESCI activities but were barred from leadership roles.

AGESCI is the largest scouting and youth organization in Italy, founded in 1974. In 2024, it had 182,000 members and nearly 33,500 leaders, about 2,000 of whom were priests.

The association’s council statement indicates that emotional orientation and gender identity can no longer serve as criteria for denying an adult an educational role. The document also emphasizes the need to overcome homophobic, lesbophobic, and transphobic attitudes that hinder the integration of leaders at all levels of the organization.

According to Wanted in Rome , the decision is the result of three years of discussion within AGESCI. Since 2022, the organization has been collecting testimonies from its LGBT members about their experiences with bias and exclusion.

Context: The Vatican and Conversion Therapy

The rule change in the scouting organization occurred against the backdrop of a historic Vatican report published on May 5, 2026. The Synod document officially recognized for the first time the “profound suffering” and pain experienced by LGBT Catholics as a result of the church’s attempts to “repair” their sexual orientation, particularly through conversion therapy. The report calls for greater inclusion and notes that such experiences lead to the marginalization of believers or force them to live a double life. A number of LGBT Catholics in church leadership positions welcomed the report’s conclusions, according to PinkNews .