Incoming West Hollywood Chamber CEO Leonard Lanzi joined chamber members and city staff at the December mixer at La Boheme on Monday evening . Earlier in the day, the West Hollywood Chamber issued a press release announcing Lanzi’s selection to replace outgoing President and CEO Genevieve Morrill.
Lanzi will officially take the helm of the Chamber on Jan. 12, 2026. He is a resident of Topanga Canyon. The new West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce president and CEO should feel at home in West Hollywood, the former Boy Scouts of America executive was fired when he came out as gay. The documentary “Scout’s Honor” was based on Lanzi’s real-life experience.
On Oct. 17, 2000, while serving as the executive director of the Los Padres Council, the top official of the Boy Scouts of America in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, Lanzi took to the public comment podium to address the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors’ proposal to cut support to the Scouts because the group excludes gays. His disclosure stunned the room.
“A Scout has to have integrity,” Lanzi said. “And I could not speak up here without feeling hypocritical.” He then embraced the 12 attributes of a Scout: “I am trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. I am gay.”
Two weeks later, Lanzi received a letter stating that he had been stripped of his position and “cannot continue to serve as a Scout executive.” Lanzi later filed a lawsuit, which was settled out of court.
Lanzi is a member of the Log Cabin Republicans and was a nominee for California’s 23rd State Senate District in the 2004 election.
Lanzi spoke off the cuff at the mixer. “I wasn’t really prepared with any remarks, but let me get them out,” he joked, drawing laughter. “All kidding aside, first of all to the staff, I’m really excited to get started on January 12. Get ready, we’re going to have some fun. Somebody said to me earlier, you have some big shoes to fill with Genevieve. You know, you don’t fill other people’s shoes. Genevieve has done an excellent, superb job, and I’ve had the pleasure of working with her over the years on different panels and such, and she is leaving this chamber in a great place for me to take a new path.
“I don’t have to fill her shoes, I have my own and they are Vans. So get ready to have some fun. Because I think the best part about a chamber is building community and having fun with that community. Because that’s why people join. They want to have fun, they want to meet great people. And they want their businesses to succeed and grow and do all the things that you have. So my job is to support you.
“Over the next couple of months I’m going to listen. People have asked me, how are you going to change the chamber? I’d say, I don’t even know what the chamber is doing yet to change it. I want to listen. I want to hear from you what your needs are, what needs to be delivered to you, and I will do my best working with the staff to figure out what that means, and make this the best chamber and really just draft off of a great City. West Hollywood is awesome.
“And we have some great events coming on in this region over the next five years. And West Hollywood is going to be in the center of all that, mark my words. So with that, happy holidays to everybody, thank you so much, I look forward to working with all of you.”
“Scout’s Oath” is the short documentary