Ellen surprises dismissed Boy Scout on the air

According to Mercury News, Ryan Andresen, who turned 18 on Monday, was due to receive the highest honor in Boy Scouting until he came out as gay. His mother, Karen Andresen, started a Change.org petition on Tuesday, Oct. 2, demanding that Ryan receive his Eagle Scout ranking. The petition has received more than 355,000 signatures.

Ryan was officially dismissed as a member of the Boy Scouts of America two days after his mother filed the petition.

Boy Scout leadership reaffirmed its ban on participation by gays and lesbians in July.

It's also worth noting that Ryan's Eagle Scout project is a 288-tile "Wall of Tolerance" on an outdoor wall at Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School in Moraga, California.

Hopefully more attention being brought to stories like Ryan's, will pressure the BSA to reevaluated their outdated homophobic policies.

Ellen DeGeneres made good on her promise to host Ryan on her show. As she says in the clip, she couldn't give him his Eagle Scout pin, but she found a way to impact his life, just the same.