LGBTQ travel company Queer Scout pushed back against a trademark lawsuit filed by Scouting America, formerly Boy Scouts of America, filing a motion to dismiss while accusing the organization of suing amid pressure from the Trump administration to retreat from diversity, equity and inclusion commitments.
Scouting America sued Queer Scout over trademark concerns. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Queer Scout, a travel company that offers tours and experiences in Colombia for gay men, challenged both the jurisdiction and merits of Scouting America’s lawsuit, noting the complaint was filed in federal court in Texas in February, while Queer Scout is based in Arizona.
Scouting America sued Queer Scout over an application it filed to trademark its name, accusing it of “infringing and diluting Boy Scouts’ famous trademarks and falsely associating with Boy Scouts” by using an image of a fox in its logo and by using the “scout” moniker.
In a motion to dismiss filed this week, Queer Scout said the lawsuit fails to prove why a “reasonable consumer” would confuse a travel company for adult gay men with a youth scouting organization, accusing Scouting America of trying to wield a “sweeping monopoly over the common word ‘SCOUT.’”
