The Pentagon has made a deal with Scouting America that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday would maintain their century-old partnership but refocus the organization away from diversity initiatives and other “woke” policies he accused it of embracing in recent years.

Hegseth put heavy emphasis on Scouting America’s acceptance of transgender youth, saying the organization will require members to use their “biological sex at birth and not gender identity.” But Scouting America, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America, said the agreement does not change existing policies regarding transgender youth and that they are welcome.

“We have transgender people in our program and we’ll have transgender people in our program going forward,” Scouting America President and CEO Roger Krone told The Associated Press.

Several of the negotiated changes mirror what the organization suggested to the Pentagon in January, including discontinuing its Citizenship in Society merit badge, introducing a Military Service merit badge and waiving registration fees for the children of military personnel.

Under Hegseth, the Pentagon has taken aim at the military’s partnership with Scouting America, decrying its historic rebrand in 2024 and other changes in recent years that he sees as part of “woke culture” efforts that he wants to root out.

Hegseth said in a video posted on X that Scouting America’s applications will list only options for male and female and the one checked must match the applicant’s birth certificate. He didn’t say how that would be enforced. The group would clarify that youths of opposite genders assigned at birth cannot share bathrooms, tents or other similar spaces, he said.

Krone said the group’s application already has only two boxes — one for boy and one for girl — and that they were already asking about sex assigned at birth. He didn’t offer clarity on how that was reviewed or enforced.

“We do not put boys and girls together in intimate spaces and in order to do that we need to have some knowledge of who they are,” he said.

Krone said “structures” in the organization accommodate transgender youth, noting that there are family troops that include both genders but offering no more details. He said there was nothing in discussions with the Pentagon that changes the way the programs are run.

Hegseth, meanwhile, said in his video that the Pentagon will “vigorously review” the changes Scouting America has made in six months and cease its support of the organization if it fails to comply.

“We hope that doesn’t happen, but it could,” Hegseth said. “Ideally, I believe the Boy Scouts should go back to being the Boy Scouts as originally founded, a group that develops boys into men. Maybe someday.”