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The news comes more than a year after the Boy Scouts of America lifted a ban on gay troop leaders participating in the organization.

An eight-year-old transgender New Jersey Boy Scout has been barred from participating in his troop’s activities reports USA Today.

Joe Maldonado has been an active member of Pack 87 in Secaucus for a month with his transgender status fully out in the open.

His mother, Kristie Maldonado, said she was told by scout leaders that he can no longer be a member of a Scouting pack because he was born a girl.

She claimed that some parents complained about having a trans child in the group.

Joe said: “It made me mad. I had a sad face, but I wasn’t crying. I’m way more angry than sad. My identity is a boy. If I was them, I would let every person in the world go in. It’s right to do.”

The Boy Scouts has relaxed restrictions on gay Scouts and troop leaders following significant donation losses in the last few years.

When asked about the Secaucus case, they said in a statement that they review birth certificates “if needed” to “check legal status” for youth programs for boys between 7 and 10 years of age but declined to say whether they have a policy that bans transgender children from Scouting.

In contrast, according to the group’s website, Girl Scouts of America welcomes transgender girls “if the child is recognized by the family and school/community as a girl and lives culturally as a girl.”

Photo credit Danielle Parhizkaran – USA Today.

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