This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The pup tent got a little bigger this week.

The Boy Scouts of America announced Monday that the organization will allow transgender boys to participate. Up to this point, only those whose birth certificates identified them as boys could join.

The change comes months after an 8-year-old transgender boy in New Jersey was excluded from his Cub Scout troop shortly after joining. The Joe Maldonado case received widespread publicity, and the boy has now been invited back to the troop.

Unlike announcements that allowed gay Scouts (in 2013) and gay Scout leaders (in 2015), this week's news is producing fewer waves. The LDS Church, the single biggest sponsor of Boy Scout troops, issued a statement Tuesday saying it is studying the change.

Transgender boys are a tiny population, but it's really a much larger group affected by the decision. At its best, Scouting isn't just about allowing participation. It's about inclusion, and inclusion is more than just tolerance. It's being part of a team.

It may be a little hard to see from inside Utah, but the Boy Scouts struggle for relevance in modern America. Where there were once 4 million Boy Scouts, there are now about 2.5 million.

There was concern the bottom would fall out of the 107-year-old BSA with its decisions to allow gay Scouts and leaders. The LDS Church wasn't alone in doing some soul searching before electing to continue with BSA after those decisions.

But from BSA's standpoint, the decisions were about survival in today's world, and the data support that. The number of Scouts has held steady in the years since those decisions, and that is a sign that the transgender decision won't trigger an exodus, either.

That's not to say there aren't more challenges ahead. Examples of poor training and oversight of Scout leaders still surface, and old skills like archery and knot-tying are a harder sell in our screen-dominated, schedule-packed youth culture. But if Boy Scouts can nurture a greater love and respect for each other and for the natural world, we'll all benefit.

In the meantime, it's safe to say BSA isn't going to stop its evolution now. When they finally admit girls, will Utah Scouters be prepared?