Indigo-
Thanks for including this article.  I want to pass it along to the other cub
scout leaders in this area.  I can't believe this is getting so out of hand.
The cub scouts need to move into the 21st century.  Being a Homosexual does
not mean that you can't have family values.  I know that I don't support
this action by the National Council and would be glad to stand with the
others is opposition to this policy.  Personally, if I was to that Council
that said it had to follow the National Policy, I would have told them to
discharge us from the National Organization if they thought they could.  But
I think their is more people opposed to this than the National Organization
would like to believe.

Just my opinion.
Tracie

----- Original Message -----
From: Indigo Nights <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2000 3:37 PM
Subject: Re: FW: Girl Scouts in small museums + Boy Scouts


> Doing programs for young people is wonderful, and, as
> a former Scout Leader for both girls and boys, I can
> affirm there is much merit in having programs
> available through museums for the young people in
> which to learn.
>
> With that said, the following article I forwarded to
> myself from the NY Times for use in discussion on
> another list.  I'm not taking a position one way or
> another about the subject matter itself on this one.
>
> However, sometimes, in the development area,
> sensitive/controversial subjects do have an impact on
> funding and the programs presented.  I feel I would be
> remiss if I did not let you know what others are doing
> so that you can make your own decisions as to whether
> or not you want to put on special programs for Boy
> Scouts.
>
> Scouts' Successful Ban on Gays Is Followed by Loss in
> Support
>
>    August 29, 2000
>    By KATE ZERNIKE
>
>    In the two months since the United States Supreme
> Court ruled that
>    the Boy Scouts of America have a constitutional
> right to exclude
>    gays, corporate and governmental support for the
> organization has
>    slipped markedly.
>
>    Chicago, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., have
> told local
>    Scout troops that they can no longer use parks,
> schools and
>    other municipal sites. Companies like Chase
> Manhattan Bank and
>    Textron Inc., have withdrawn hundreds of thousands
> of dollars in
>    support to local and national scouting groups
> nationwide. Dozens of
>    United Ways from Massachusetts to San Francisco
> have cut off
>    money amounting to millions of dollars each year.
>
>    And Connecticut, in what may become a test case,
> has banned
>    contributions to the Scouts by state employees
> through a state-run
>    charity. The state is also considering whether to
> block the
>    Scouts from using public campgrounds or buildings.
>
>    "It's a watershed issue," said C. Joan Parker,
> assistant counsel
>    to the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and
> Opportunities,
>    which must issue a ruling by Nov. 8 on whether the
> Scouts violate
>    state antidiscrimination laws.
>
>    If the commission rules that the group does violate
> those laws,
>    the Boy Scouts would be prevented from using any
> public
>    facilities.
>
>    "We have to decide, Are we aiding and abetting
> someone that
>    discriminates?" Ms. Parker said. "Clearly, any
> public entity
>    needs to have clean hands."
>
>    Gregg Shields, a national spokesman for the Scouts,
> said the
>    organization respected the right of private
> companies to donate
>    only to groups of their choice. But the
> organization is suing
>    the State of Connecticut to restore state
> employees' ability to
>    donate to the Scouts, and Mr. Shields said his
> group would fight
>    to maintain access to public schools and public
> places in other
>    states as well.
>
>    "The Boy Scouts of America since 1910 have taught
> traditional
>    family values," Mr. Shields said. "We feel that an
> avowed
>    homosexual isn't a role model for those values."
>
>    For public and private officials around the
> country, the problem
>    is a complex and painful one. On the one hand, they
> do not want
>    to cut off valuable opportunities for the young or
> run afoul of
>    First Amendment principles. On the other hand, by
> allowing a
>    group that bans gays to use public facilities and
> supporting it,
>    they violate their anti discrimination statutes.
>
>    The trim uniform of the Boy Scouts has become
> almost a cherished
>    national symbol. But at a time when same-sex
> benefits, diversity
>    training and nondiscrimination policies have become
> routine, some
>    companies and organizations say the Scouts' refusal
> to admit gays
>    has come to seem almost un-American.
>
>    "Their position is, on the face of it, in conflict
> with our
>    commitment and our values on diversity," said Jim
> Finn, a
>    spokesman for Chase, which had contributed about
> $200,000 annually
>    to the Boy Scouts until stopping it last month.
>
>    The Supreme Court ruled in June by a 5-to-4 vote
> that the
>    organization had a constitutional right to exclude
> gays because
>    opposition to homosexuality is part of the
> organization's
>    "expressive message."
>
>    The decision overturned a ruling last year by the
> New Jersey
>    Supreme Court that applied the state's law against
> discrimination
>    in public accommodations to require a New Jersey
> Scout troop to
>    readmit a longtime member and assistant
> scoutmaster, James Dale,
>    whom it had dismissed after learning he is gay.
>
>    But the ruling did not address the merits of the
> ban on gays, only
>    whether the Boy Scouts is a private group, and so
> has the right
>    to set its own membership rules.
>
>    The Scouts, whose membership has grown to 6.2
> million, said that
>    the group's charter since 1910 had promoted "family
> values," and
>    that its oath pledged a "morally straight" life. A
>    homosexual, the organization said, is not the
> proper role model
>    for those values.
>
>    While the decisions to withhold support will not
> seriously dent
>    the $125 million raised annually by the Scouts
> national
>    organization, the growing effort to block local
> chapters from
>    meeting in places like public schools and state
> campgrounds raises
>    practical problems for the Scouts. Since the
> ruling, many
>    public bodies, charities and companies, including
> Merrill Lynch,
>    are beginning the discussion that has taken place
> in Hartford.
>    The options, they say, are equally unpleasant:
> hurting children
>    who are benefiting from scouting, or supporting a
> position they
>    find ethically untenable.
>
>    "Do we just cut off funding, and so hundreds of
> kids in Hartford
>    aren't getting a program they so desperately need?"
> asked Susan
>    Dunn, senior vice president of the United Way of
> the Capital
>    Area. "Our mission is to serve our community,
> especially
>    children. But it's also in our mission that we
> don't
>    discriminate. That's where it becomes difficult."
>
>    The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit
> against the
>    city of San Diego on Monday asking a federal court
> to revoke a
>    50-year-old agreement that lets the Scouts lease 18
> acres of
>    parkland for $1 a year. The lease is set to expire
> in 2007.
>
>    In Fall River, Mass., the executive director of the
> local United
>    Way, Bob Horne, said he was stunned at how swiftly
> and strongly
>    his board had acted to cut support to any Scout
> troops that did
>    not sign a form saying they would not endorse the
> Scouts' ban on
>    gays.
>
>    "I thought that some people would try to skirt the
> issue," Mr.
>    Horne said. "But attendance was unbelievable, the
> best attendance
>    we've had all year. It could not have been a more
> unanimous,
>    enthusiastic vote. Obviously, there was concern for
> the kids,
>    but it all came down to we really have an
> obligation to do the
>    right thing."
>
>    More than half the population of Fall River, an old
> mill city,
>    has Portuguese immigrants in its background, and an
> influx of
>    Cambodians has arrived in the past few years.
>
>    "With those growing groups," Mr. Horne said,
> "people are being
>    more aware of diversity and doing things right and
> being fair
>    and not setting up separate views, the idea that
> people are
>    people. "People felt very strongly that we should
> take this
>    step." Those who are eliminating or reconsidering
> their support
>    are trying to respect, as the Supreme Court
> affirmed, the Scouts'
>    right to set its own mission.
>
>    And cutting off money or access to one private
> group raises more
>    questions, officials say. Do those same charities
> then cut off
>    financing to groups chartered to serve, say,
> Latinos? Do states
>    stop allowing Roman Catholic youth groups to use
> public
>    campgrounds or school meeting rooms because the
> church does not
>    ordain gays?
>
>    Among those debating whether to end support, some
> are reluctant
>    to do so because they believe the local Scout
> chapters do not
>    agree with the ban on gays, which was put into
> effect by the
>    national organization.
>
>    "Everyone knows their work with kids is good, and
> it's a policy
>    that's not commonly enforced," said Marty Milkovic,
> executive
>    director of the United Way of Northern Fairfield
> County, in
>    Connecticut.
>
>    Like chapters in many other cities, the
> Southeastern New England
>    United Way in Providence, R.I., has said it will
> require any
>    Scout council to sign a form saying it will not
> discriminate.
>    But the Boy Scouts' Narragansett Council, which
> receives $200,000
>    from the United Way, has said it must abide by the
> national
>    policy. And Mr. Shields, the spokesman for the
> national group, said
>    local councils were not allowed to disavow any part
> of the
>    national charter, so the councils are not allowed
> to sign any
>    nondiscrimination policy that would require them to
> admit gays.
>    Troops that disobey the national charter could face
> eviction.
>
>    Within the local councils, though, there is
> increasing dissent
>    from the policy. Scouting for All, a group started
> by a
>    15-year-old scout in California, that advocates
> opening up the
>    organization to gays, held a national protest day
> outside Boy
>    Scout headquarters in several cities last week. In
> Montclair,
>    N.J., parents in a local Cub Scout troop are
> signing a petition
>    saying they do not endorse the national policy.
>
>    In New Milford, Conn., Gale Alexander said he and
> his wife were
>    torn about whether to allow their 9-year-old son to
> remain in the
>    Boy Scouts. They like the skills and
> self-confidence the program
>    has taught but, Mr. Alexander said, "I couldn't
> look at my
>    friends if I couldn't stand up and say this is not
> right."
>
>    So as a compromise, the Alexanders are letting
> their son continue
>    scouting, but they have decided to become vocal in
> their
>    opposition to the policy. In conversations, they
> have discovered
>    that other parents do not agree with it, either.
>
>    "The idea that all the rank and file is just fine
> with this is
>    just a bunch of malarkey," Mr. Alexander said.
> "It's time now
>    for parents to speak up and say, I don't agree with
> it. It's
>    time for people to start fighting from within."
>
>
>
>
>    The New York Times on the Web
>    http://www.nytimes.com
>
>
> /-----------------------------------------------------------------\
>
>
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>
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>
>
> --- Aaron Marcavitch <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> The boy scouts (the older ones)
> > have
> > merit badges in american heritage, plus many more
> > that
> > might be specific to a site (Railroading merit badge
> > for a Train Museum, etc.) The cub scouts have plenty
> > of activity pins that could be tailor fit.
>
>
> =====
> Indigo Nights
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
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