BRIDGEPORT, OH – A gay woman who was terminated from her position as a den mother for her son’s Cub Scout troop because of her sexual identity says she will not take the offense lying down.

Jennifer Tyrell of Bridgeport, Ohio, has launched a petition to overturn the Boy Scouts of America’s (BSA) long-standing policy that bans open or avowed homosexuals from leadership positions in any of its organizations, which include the Boy Scouts, the Cub Scouts, and its Venturing division (formerly the Explorers). BSA also operates several permanent locations around the country, including the Florida National High Adventure Sea Base in Islamorada in the Keys.

O date, the online campaign to change Scouting’s policies has garnered over 170,000 signatures. Tyrrell, 32, was told on April 10 about the decision by Scouting. She told MSNBC this week that the loss she and her seven year old son feel is “devastating.”

“We lost our scouting family,” said Tyrell, a stay at home mother of four. “The best time in our lives we’ve had in the last year, it’s gone,” she added. “I can’t stop crying.”

Tyrrell, a 32-year-old stay at home mother of four, became a den mother last year when her son, Cruz Burns, signed up for Cub Scouts. Although she was aware of the Boy Scouts’ national policy against homosexual leaders, she said she was told by a local Scout Master that there would be no controversy if she signed up as a leader. “He said they would stand, you know, hand in hand with us and stand behind us all the way. Well, actually, that’s been true,” she said. “I’ve never had a problem.”

In an email to MSNBC, Boy Scouts spokesman Deron Smith said Tyrrell was in violation of Scouting’s national policy regarding gays. That policy gained national attention in the June 2000 Supreme Court ruling in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, in which the justices ruled that Scouting, and all other private organizations, have a constitutionallyguaranteed right to freedom of association and discriminating in its membership standards, under the First Amendment. The case involved an assistant scoutmaster who had been likewise banned because of his sexual identity.

“Scouting, and the majority of parents it serves, does not believe it is the right forum for children to become aware of the issue of sexual orientation, or engage in discussions about being gay,” said Smith, the BSA spokesman. “Rather, such complex matters should be discussed with parents, caregivers, or spiritual advisers, at the appropriate time and in the right setting.” He added “We fully understand and appreciate that not everyone will agree with any one position or policy.”

For Tyrrell, Scouting’s decision comes down to basic human fairness. “We’re just people,” she said. “We’re just gay people who love their kids.”