|
Over the past few years, the Boy Scouts of America
has been served with ACLU lawsuits, financial cuts, public partnership
cancellations, and facility evictions. They have been ridiculed
in the media and castigated as bigots in once-friendly corners.
The reason? The Boy Scout Oath contains the words "duty to
God" and "morally straight." From the fight to save
Scout camps in the parks of San Diego to the case for free association
at the U.S. Supreme Court, and from reckoning with political correctness
in a Connecticut state charity to pursuing equal access for the
Scouts in a Berkeley public marina, the ACRU's Scouting Legal Defense
Fund has stood by the Boy Scouts.
Barnes-Wallace
v. BSA, City of San Diego and BSA Desert Pacific Council
This case involves whether use by the Scouts of
Balboa Park and Fiesta Island in San Diego under a long term lease
with the city amounts to an unconstitutional establishment of
religion. The District Court ruled it did. Oral arguments were
heard on the case in February of 2006, before the United States
Court of Appeals for the Ninth District, in California. The
opinion of the court is pending. On December 22,
2006 the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals asked the California Supreme
Court to decide whether San Diego's leasing of the parkland to
the Boy Scouts violates the California state constitution. Read
Brief
Boy
Scouts of America and Connecticut Rivers Council, BSA v. Wyman et
al
In this case the Boy Scouts sued because the state
of Connecticut excluded them from the combined charitable campaign
for state employees on the grounds that the Scouts were a discriminatory
organization. ACRU and other groups petitioned the United States
Supreme Court to hear this case after the United States Court
of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided against the ACRU position.
On March 8, 2004, the Supreme Court refused to hear
the case. Read
Brief
Boy
Scouts of America and Monmouth Council, BSA v. Dale
Decided by the United States Supreme Court on June
28, 2000, in favor of ACRU’s position.
This case involved the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court holding
that the Scouts could not be forced to retain openly gay adult
scout leaders under antidiscrimination laws. The Scouts have a
right of freedom of expressive association to appoint adult leaders
who do not contradict the message and doctrines of the Scouts.
Read
Brief
Rumsfeld
vs. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights
Decided by the United States Supreme Court on March
6, 2006, in favor of ACRU’s position.
In this case the Supreme Court held that the Federal government
has the power to condition Federal educational aid on maintenance
of equal access to the campus for military recruiters as compared
to other recruiters. Read
Brief
Winkler
v. Rumsfeld
This case involves whether use by the Scouts of
a military base for their national Jamboree involves an unconstitutional
establishment of religion. The District Court held that it does.
Oral arguments were heard on the case in April of 2006, before
the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh District, in
Illinois. On April 12, 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Seventh Circuit dismissed the case finding that the ACLU
did not have standing. Read
Brief
11/20/07: Post
Sugarcoats Thuggery Against Philadelphia Boy Scouts
EXCERPT: "The Post's description is a classic
example of moral equivalence, in which aggressor and victim are
co-belligerents. By Robert Knight Culture and Media Institute
November 20, 2007 The Washington Post this week stepped delicately
around the thuggish tactics employed by..."
10/26/07: Punishment
will hurt community, by Hans Zeiger
EXCERPT: "Almost 80 years ago, the City of
Philadelphia granted to the local Boy Scouts a low-cost rent on
land at 22d and Winter Streets, "in perpetuity." This
has proven to be a valuable partnership, both for the city and
for its most important youth organization. But last week, the
city penalized the Boy Scouts for its membership policies by raising
the rent from $1 to $200,000 a year. This was wrong..."
6/9/07: Indiana
United Way Cuts Off Scouts, by Sheldon Kinsel
EXCERPT: "In what has become increasingly common
tactic, the St. Joseph County United Way in Indiana has cut off
funding the Scouts because Scouting no longer meets the new criteria
for funding programs. The United Way has decided to focus on..."
6/7/07: New
Iowa Law Could Cause Problems for the Scouts, by Sheldon Kinsel
EXCERPT: "Iowa has amended its state non-discrimination
law to include "sexual orientation" and "gender
identity" among the categories covered. Lawmakers rejected
a plea from state and national Scout officials to include in the
legislation a recognition of the 2000 Dale Supreme..."
6/6/07: Philadelphia
City Council Votes to Charge Scouts, by Sheldon Kinsel
EXCERPT: "Without any prior notification, the
Philadelphia City Council voted 16-1 on May 31st to authorize
the city to end the lease with the Cradle of Liberty Scout Council
for the headquarters building the city has leased to the Scouts
since..."
6/5/07: Demonstrators
Protest at Scout National Meeting, by Sheldon Kinsel
EXCERPT: "Protesters, including some
in Scout uniforms, organized by the homosexual activist organization
Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) demonstrated
outside the Scouts' national meeting in Atlanta. They were demanding
that the Scouts change their policy on excluding openly..."
BOOK: Get
Off My Honor: The Assault on the Boy Scouts of America
(Paperback) by Hans Zeiger
"Cultural critics of the Boy Scouts say the
Scouts are odd and antiquated with their uncool brown uniforms,
teaching useless knot tying in a technological..." Buy
this book at Amazon.com
|
