http://www.foxnews.com/national/100500/scoutbacklash_fnc.sml
Scout Support Prompts Some Communities
to Reverse Funding Withdrawal
Thursday, October 5, 2000
Loud support of the Boy Scouts of America has forced some local governments to flip-flop on decisions to break ties with the group over its ban on openly gay leaders and members.
Corbis
Scouts congregate each year at the Boy Scout World Jamboree.
Call it backlash against the backlash.
Tempe, Ariz., officials are scrapping plans to prevent city workers from donating to the Scouts.
"I'm disappointed and angry with myself for the poor process and communication that has ensued," said Mayor Neil Giuliano.
The Tempe controversy started when city officials said they would cut off the area's United Way charity group if it didn't stop funneling money to the Scouts. Local United Way officials told the city it couldn't decide what organizations were worthy of receiving United Way money, and local Scout leaders said they would stick up for values they believed in.
And while about a dozen of the United Way's 1,400 chapters have decided to withhold funding from the Scouts, some chapters are seeking funding alternatives. The Seattle-area United Way will transfer its funds to the Boy Scouts' public school program "Learning for Life," which has open enrollment.
"There are a few places that defunded the Boy Scouts," said Jon Fine of the United Way of King County. "There are plenty of United Ways that let the Boy Scouts alone. And there are a handful like us, who are asking the Boy Scouts to move in a more non-discriminatory fashion and finding ways to help encourage them to do that."
Fine added that the chapter has been "very specific about the expectation that (the funds) be spent in a non-discriminatory manner."
But critics contend that's not going far enough, because the money still helps the Scouts. George Bakan of the Seattle Gay News likened the move to a shell game.
"This program is under shell number one, and this program is under shell number two," Bakan said. "So watch how we move them around and you can still give us money. I don't agree with it at all."
Similar funding battles have occurred in many states since a June U.S. Supreme Court ruling that protected the Boy Scouts' right to exclude gays.
School officials in Miami-Dade County, Fla., last month told local Scout leaders to cancel a recruitment drive in schools, then reversed the decision days later. School district lawyers are planning the next move.
Several organizations have threatened to launch a national tourism boycott of South Florida if local governments there don't reconsider decisions to stop providing money and school-building meeting space to local Scout troops.
The United Way of the Bluegrass will continue funding Scouts in the Lexington, Ky., area, despite efforts by an executive committee member to create a new policy on discrimination.
And the Bethel School Board in Lane County, Ore., plans to reverse its Sept. 11 decision to ban Boy Scout recruiters because it likely would be found illegal if challenged. The board received complaints and its legal adviser said it can't ban Scout recruiters while allowing those from other groups.
Despite the controversy, many businesses and organizations remain supportive of what they say is the Scouts' mission to encourage good deeds and build character. And Scout leaders in several cities said they hoped that would ultimately prevent further funding from being withheld.
— FOX News' Jonathan Serrie contributed to this report
------------------
~USP
"[Even if there would be] few tears shed if and when the Second Amendment is held to guarantee nothing more than the state National Guard, this would simply show that the Founders were right when they feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights. We may tolerate the abridgement of property rights and the elimination of a right to bear arms; but we should not pretend that these are not reductions of rights." -- Justice Scalia 1998
Scout Support Prompts Some Communities
to Reverse Funding Withdrawal
Thursday, October 5, 2000
Loud support of the Boy Scouts of America has forced some local governments to flip-flop on decisions to break ties with the group over its ban on openly gay leaders and members.
Corbis
Scouts congregate each year at the Boy Scout World Jamboree.
Call it backlash against the backlash.
Tempe, Ariz., officials are scrapping plans to prevent city workers from donating to the Scouts.
"I'm disappointed and angry with myself for the poor process and communication that has ensued," said Mayor Neil Giuliano.
The Tempe controversy started when city officials said they would cut off the area's United Way charity group if it didn't stop funneling money to the Scouts. Local United Way officials told the city it couldn't decide what organizations were worthy of receiving United Way money, and local Scout leaders said they would stick up for values they believed in.
And while about a dozen of the United Way's 1,400 chapters have decided to withhold funding from the Scouts, some chapters are seeking funding alternatives. The Seattle-area United Way will transfer its funds to the Boy Scouts' public school program "Learning for Life," which has open enrollment.
"There are a few places that defunded the Boy Scouts," said Jon Fine of the United Way of King County. "There are plenty of United Ways that let the Boy Scouts alone. And there are a handful like us, who are asking the Boy Scouts to move in a more non-discriminatory fashion and finding ways to help encourage them to do that."
Fine added that the chapter has been "very specific about the expectation that (the funds) be spent in a non-discriminatory manner."
But critics contend that's not going far enough, because the money still helps the Scouts. George Bakan of the Seattle Gay News likened the move to a shell game.
"This program is under shell number one, and this program is under shell number two," Bakan said. "So watch how we move them around and you can still give us money. I don't agree with it at all."
Similar funding battles have occurred in many states since a June U.S. Supreme Court ruling that protected the Boy Scouts' right to exclude gays.
School officials in Miami-Dade County, Fla., last month told local Scout leaders to cancel a recruitment drive in schools, then reversed the decision days later. School district lawyers are planning the next move.
Several organizations have threatened to launch a national tourism boycott of South Florida if local governments there don't reconsider decisions to stop providing money and school-building meeting space to local Scout troops.
The United Way of the Bluegrass will continue funding Scouts in the Lexington, Ky., area, despite efforts by an executive committee member to create a new policy on discrimination.
And the Bethel School Board in Lane County, Ore., plans to reverse its Sept. 11 decision to ban Boy Scout recruiters because it likely would be found illegal if challenged. The board received complaints and its legal adviser said it can't ban Scout recruiters while allowing those from other groups.
Despite the controversy, many businesses and organizations remain supportive of what they say is the Scouts' mission to encourage good deeds and build character. And Scout leaders in several cities said they hoped that would ultimately prevent further funding from being withheld.
— FOX News' Jonathan Serrie contributed to this report
------------------
~USP
"[Even if there would be] few tears shed if and when the Second Amendment is held to guarantee nothing more than the state National Guard, this would simply show that the Founders were right when they feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights. We may tolerate the abridgement of property rights and the elimination of a right to bear arms; but we should not pretend that these are not reductions of rights." -- Justice Scalia 1998