Background on
the
Boy Scouts' Discrimination
Against Gay Troop Leaders and Gay Scouts
The Boy Scouts exclude "avowed
homosexuals" from its ranks [that includes a ban on both gay
troop leaders and gay scouts], maintaining they violate the Scouting
oath to be "morally straight" and the Scouting law to be
"clean." (Reuters, 11/29/00)
"Contradictory information from BSA representatives at the
convention makes the official BSA policy on homosexuality unclear, he
said. The BSA policy 'is not stated in their bylaws, their rules and
regulations, or their procedures for maintaining standards of
membership, nor in any leader manual or handbook that boys and parents
use, nor in any training course or syllabus, nor in the application,'
[Episcopal Bishop Arthur Williams, bishop suffragan of Ohio] said.
'They state that they support traditional family values, but they have
not defined what they mean when they use the term family values.'
" (Episcopal
News Service, 7/16/00)
WHAT THE BOY SCOUTS SAY ABOUT GAYS
"A homosexual is not a role model for traditional family
values," says Scout spokesman Gregg Shields. (Newsweek,
8/17/98)
"We also think that men who are promiscuous and those with DWI
convictions do not make good role models,"
said Gregg Shields, spokesman for the National Council
of the Boy Scouts of America in Irving, Texas. (Kansas City Star,
3/21/01)
Gregg Shields, national spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America,
said homosexuality does not fit into the group's
oath, in which Scouts pledge to keep myself
physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight. "An
avowed homosexual wouldn't be a role model for those values,"
Shields said. (Washington Post, 7/6/00)
"The Boy Scouts of America have always taught
traditional American values. An avowed
homosexual is not a role model for those values," said Gregg
Shields, a spokesman at the group's national headquarters near Dallas.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 7/22/01)
NO BASIS FOR POLICY: OTHER YOUTH GROUPS DON'T BAN
GAYS
"The Girls Scouts of America, the YMCA,
4-H clubs, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Jewish community
groups, don't exclude gays." (USA Today, 10/10/00)
Canada's Boy Scouts permit gay troops. (Toronto
Globe and Mail, 6/19/00)
FAIR-MINDED AMERICANS ARE DROPPING THE SCOUTS
In September 2000 alone, "the Scouts lost
nearly $530,000 in public money and charitable aid as
one local government after another voted to end
relations with the group because it excludes gay people." (USA
Today, 10/10/00)
A sampling of who's repudiated the
Boy Scouts:
49 UNITED WAYS STOP FUNDING THE SCOUTS
- At least 49 United Ways have stopped funding the
Boy Scouts because of their anti-gay policy. They include:
Dallas (TX), New Haven (CT), Orlando (FL), Boston (MA),
Raleigh/Durham (NC), Providence (RI), Cleveland (OH), Madison
(WI), and Seattle (WA). A comprehensive list of all 49
United Ways is here.
- This fact is confirmed by the Chronicle of
Philanthropy: "An April (2001) report by the
Chronicle of Philanthropy estimated that more than 50 of the
400 largest United Ways have either dropped the Boy Scouts from
their rosters, limited donations or changed
pledge forms to allow people to prohibit
donations from being used to support Scouting." (Richmond
Times-Dispatch, 7/22/01)
GOVERNMENT ENTITIES DROP THE SCOUTS
- The Los Angeles City Council voted 11
to 0 to cut the city's ties with the Boy Scouts of America, saying
the group's exclusion of homosexuals and
atheists was discriminatory. LA City Councilman Mike Feuer
said: "Nobody, including the Boy Scouts ... has articulated
what the difference is between
discriminating on the basis of race, on the one hand,
which they would agree ought never happen, and discriminating on
the basis of sexual orientation. (Reuters,
11/29/00)
- In New York City, which has the largest school
system in the United States, one community
school district in Manhattan has withdrawn its support
of the Scouts, and other districts may follow. (National Post
(Canada), 12/29/00)
- In the year 2000, the state of Connecticut
dropped the Boy Scouts from a list of charities that state
employees can contribute to via payroll deduction. (Associated
Press, 7/29/02)
- Most California public high schools have withdrawn sponsorship
of local scout troops. "If they are
sponsoring ... a Boy Scout troop, the California Education Code
expressly prohibits that sort of affiliation because it would
discriminate," said California State
department of education spokeswoman Nicole Winger. (Oakland
Tribune, 8/9/02)
- Chicago, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., have told
local Scout troops that they can no longer use parks, schools and
other municipal sites. (New York Times, 8/29/00)
- San Francisco's judges cut all ties with the Boy
Scouts. (San Francisco Chronicle, 7/16/02)
- In December, 2000, the Los Angeles Unified School
District began the process to limit Boy
Scout activity on campuses -- such as recruiting -- and to require
troops that use school facilities to sign
statements renouncing the national anti-gay
policy. (Las Vegas Sun, 1/7/01)
- The Minneapolis school board voted unanimously to end its
sponsorship of Boy Scout troops and to prohibit the Scouts from
recruiting new members in the public schools. The board cited the
nondiscrimination policy, which includes sexual orientation among
its protections. (Education Week, 10/25/00)
PRIVATE BUSINESSES DROP THE SCOUTS
- Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg
stepped down Monday from an advisory board of the Boy Scouts of
America, saying that he could no longer associate
with a group that engages in
"discrimination" - an apparent reference to scouting's
exclusion of gays. "The last few years
in scouting have deeply saddened me to see the Boy Scouts of
America actively and publicly participating in discrimination.
It's a real shame," Spielberg said in a
statement... "I have consistently
spoken out publicly and privately against
intolerance and discrimination based on
ethnic, religious, racial and sexual orientation," Spielberg
said. Marvin Levy, Spielberg's spokesman,
said the director was opposed to the exclusion
of gays or any other group from scouting. (Reuters, 4/16/01)
- Several corporations have also cut support,
including Chase Manhattan Bank,
Levi-Strauss
& Co. and Textron Inc. Wells Fargo severed ties in the
early 1990s and recently asked the United Way to steer its US$400,000
donation away from the Boy Scouts. "The
Boy Scouts are as American as apple pie, but this was an easy
decision to make," said Tom Unger, a Wells
Fargo spokesman. "We really have to, as
a company, return to what our core vision and values
are, and that's to not discriminate." (National Post
(Canada), 12/29/00).
- Novell Inc. will no longer match employee
contributions to the Boy Scouts of America,
citing the youth organization's exclusion of homosexual scoutmasters
as a violation of the company's anti-discrimination policies.
"Novell has criteria for organizations that
can participate [in the campaign]. It is a
fairly standard line about not discriminating on the basis
of race, religion or sexual orientation," Novell spokesman
Bruce Lowry said Friday. "The Boy
Scouts of America no longer complies with that
requirement, based on the Supreme Court decision." (Salt Lake
Tribune, 11/11/00)
- The CVS Pharmacy chain stopped
funding the Boy Scouts in September, 2001.
- Carrier Corporation has stopped funding the Boy
Scouts. (Associated Press, 4/3/02).
- HSBC bank stops supporting Boy Scouts. (Buffalo
News, 3/13/02).
- Scripps Networks has asked the United Way to
exclude the Boy Scouts of America from their
corporate gift. (Knoxville News-Sentinel, 10/25/2001)
- "It is with sadness that we now take action to sever ties
between CWA and the Boy Scouts of America until such time as its
leaders reverse their policy of excluding gays from membership or
volunteer activities in scouting. This policy by the Boy
Scouts organization is an appalling step backward at a time when
other American institutions - churches, corporations, school
systems, even the military - are moving in a more enlightened
direction to banish discrimination against people because of their
sexual orientation. Teaching intolerance is a very poor lesson for
our youth - one that we must challenge. We urge Boy Scouts of
America leaders to reconsider and drop this policy. In the
meantime, CWA calls upon its local unions and members to refrain
from supporting or participating in activities of the Boy
Scouts." - (Communications Workers of America press
release, April 2001)
RELIGIOUS GROUPS DROP THE SCOUTS
- Reform Jewish leaders are recommending that
parents withdraw their children from
membership in the Boy Scouts of America and that synagogues
end their sponsorship of Scout troops. In a
memorandum to congregations dated Jan. 5, 2001, the Joint
Commission on Social Action of the Reform
movement asked congregations to sever ties to
the Boy Scouts, or at least publicly protest the Scouts' policy by
withdrawing financial support or asking local Scout
groups to rewrite their charters. The
Reform movement represents 40 percent of the America's 6 million
Jews. (New
York Times, 1/10/01)
- The Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ in
Madison has withdrawn its sponsorship of a Boy
Scout troop because of the national
organization' s policy excluding gay Scouts and leaders. The
congregation felt stopping its sponsorship of the local troop was
necessary, said the Rev. Winton Boyd, the
congregation' s pastor. "The Scouting
policy is inconsistent with our policy of affirming and welcoming
gay and lesbian people," Boyd said. (Associated Press,
2/13/01)
- The [Episcopal] Rev. Robert Bryant (California) pointed
out that the BSA's policy affects not only gay scouts and
scoutmasters but their heterosexual relatives, and, in some cases,
the clergy in parishes sponsoring scout troops. "What is a
young boy to think when his Eagle Scout father is unable to
provide leadership in his troop?" asked Bryant. "What is
a young boy who idolizes his big brother to think when that
brother is expelled from the Boy Scouts? What is a young boy to
think who wants to achieve his 'God and Country' award, when he
finds out that his own pastor, who is gay or lesbian, is not
deemed appropriate to provide leadership, and yet the Scouts
require that supervision?" (Episcopal News Service, 7/10/00)
GROUPS WHO SUPPORTED LEGAL EFFORT TO OVERTURN BOY SCOUT GAY BAN
(partial list)
Legal and Civil Rights Groups
- ACLU
- Anti-Defamation League
- Human Rights Campaign
- Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
- NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
- National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium
- People for the American Way Foundation
Women's Groups
- National Council of Jewish Women
- NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Women's Law
Center
Education Groups
- American Federation of Teachers
- National Education Association
- American Association of School Administrators
- New York City Board of Education
- Los Angeles Unified School District
Religious-Oriented Groups
- American Jewish Congress
- Deans of Divinity Schools and Rabbinical Institutions
- The General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist
Church
- The United Church Board for Homeland Ministries
- The Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism
Professional Associations
- American Bar Association
- American Psychological Association
- American Publish Health Association
- National Association of Social Workers
Cities
- Atlanta
- Chicago
- Los Angeles
- New York City
- Portland
- San Francisco
- Tucson
States
- New Jersey
- New York
- Attorney generals of California
- Attorney general of Hawaii
- Attorney general of Maryland
- Attorney general of Massachusetts
- Attorney general of New Hampshire
- Attorney general of New York
- Attorney general of Oklahoma
- Attorney general of Oregon
- Attorney general of Vermont
- Attorney general of Washington
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