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 Textron Inc., have withdrawn hundreds of thousands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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>
>
> --- 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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