In its structure, Trail Life isn’t reinventing the wheel. It patterns itself after the Boy Scouts with uniforms, awards for completing projects, military-style ranks, and an outdoor orientation. While Trail Life’s program is openly Christian, leaders insist that members of other faith groups are welcome. But boys who openly admit being gay cannot join. “This is not a hater deal,” said Scott Scarborough, a landscape architect and Trail Life leader in Lubbock. “We want to return to timeless values.”

Trail Life USA, a new alternative to the Boy Scouts of America, is starting to take off in Texas and across the nation.

The question is whether Trail Life will become a viable alternative to the venerable Boy Scouts, a 103-year-old organization with $1 billion in assets and 2.6 million members.

Trail Life was born last summer after BSA’s leaders voted to allow openly gay boys to participate in Scouting, a reversal of a long-standing policy. Many conservative Christians objected, saying the historic vote represented a rejection of biblical teachings on sexuality. Some within Scouting voted with their feet, leaving to create Trail Life USA.

In many ways, Trail Life is modeled on the Boy Scouts. The two groups part ways, though, on the question of admitting openly gay members. Trail Life bans gay members — the same ban that the BSA lifted last year.

“Trail Life is very much what families want,” said Rob Green, a former BSA executive who is CEO of the new group.

“They just don’t know it yet.”

Green worked for the Boy Scouts for 20 years and was the top Scouting executive in Greenville, S.C., when he resigned last summer to help organize Trail Life.

He declined to say how many boys have committed to the new organization.

“Success is not numbers,” Green said. “We want to be the premier youth group, period. The big concern is whether we deliver the program we say we are.”

If they’re worried about Trail Life, BSA executives aren’t showing it. Like a political candidate sitting on a huge lead, the Irving-based organization has shown no interest in engaging in a public debate with its upstart challenger.

“We believe it’s inappropriate for us to discuss any other organization,” said Deron Smith, a BSA spokesman. “We are pleased that the overwhelming majority of our members, families and chartered organizations remain committed to the Boy Scouts of America.”

Smith declined to respond to questions about how many adult Scout leaders might bolt for Trail Life.

The most prominent defector so far is Richard Mathews, who was BSA’s general counsel for a decade. Mathews, an Eagle Scout, is now acting general counsel for Trail Life.

At BSA, he helped develop language to address how the new membership policy should be applied should questions arise within a troop about an openly gay Scout.

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