Denial of funding to the Boy Scouts of America (BSA): Year 2000 to now
Part 2: United Way agencies deny funding (Cont'd)
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The United Way:
In mid-2004, Hans Zeiber, a student at
Hillsdale College, prepared a list of United Way organizations that have
de-funded their local Boy Scouts chapters because of discrimination based on
sexual orientation and/or religion. They are sorted alphabetically by their
location:
United Way of Alachua county, Gainesville, FL
United Way of Allegan County, Allegan, MI
United Way of Austin, Texas
United
Way of the Bay Area, San Francisco, CA
United Way of Bronxville Eastchester
Tuckahoe, Bronxville, NY
United Way of Broward County, Fort Lauderdale, FL
United Way of California Capital Region, Sacramento, CA
United Way of Capital
Area, Hartford, CT
United Way of Chicago, Chicago, IL
United Way of the
Columbia-Willamette, Portland, OR
United Way of Dane County, Madison, WI
United Way of Dunn County, Menomonie, WI
United Way of Essex and West Hudson,
Newark. NJ
United Way Evanston, Chicago, IL
United Way of Fox Cities, Inc.,
Menasha, WI
United Way of Greater Duluth, Inc. Duluth, MN
United Way of
Greater Fall River, MA
United Way of the Greater Winona Area, Winona, MN
United Way of Greenwich, Connecticut
Hampshire Community United Way,
Northhampton, MA
Heart of Florida United Way, Orlando, FL
United Way of
Jackson County, Medford, OR
United Way of King County, Seattle, WA
United
Way of Massachusetts Bay, Boston, MA
United Way of Metropolitan, Dallas, TX
United Way of Miami-Dade, FL
Monadnock United Way of Keene, NH
United Way of
Monmouth County, Farmingdale, NJ
United Way of Monroe County, Bloomington, IN
United Way of Monterey Bay, CA
United Way of Morris County, Morristown, NJ
United Way of Moscow/Latah County, Moscow, ID
United Way of New Haven, CT
United Way of Norwalk and Wilton, Norwalk, CT
United Way of Northern Fairfield
County, Danbury, CT
United Way of Northwestern Michigan, Traverse City, MI
United Way Inc., Palm Beach Community Chest, Palm Beach and Minalapan, FL
United Way of Pierce County, Tacoma, WA
United Way of Portland, ME
United
Way of Santa Barbara County, Santa Barbara, CA
United Way of Santa Clara
County, CA
United Way of Santa Cruz County, Capitola, CA
United Way of Santa
Fe, NM
United Way of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara, CA
United Way of Snohomish
County, Everett, WA
United Way of Somerset County, NJ
United Way of
Sonoma-Mendocino-Lake Counties, Santa Rosa, CA
United Way of Southeast New
England, Providence, RI
United Way Southeastern Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
United Way of Thurston County, Olympia, WA
United Way of Tucson and Southern
Arizona, Tucson
United Way of Ulster County, Kingston, NY
United Way of
Ventura County, Ventura, CA
United Way of Westport-Weston, Westport, CT
United Way of Westchester and Putnam, Inc. White Plains, NY
United Way of
Whatcom County, Bellingham, WA
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State and municipal government funding and support:
Berkeley, CA, had allowed non-profit organizations to berth their boats
without charge at the municipal marina. In 1997, the city restricted the free
use of the marina to groups that did not discriminate against minorities. In
1998, they revoked a subsidy previously given to the Sea Scouts -- a branch of
the Boy Scouts. City officials informed the Berkeley Sea Scouts that their
$1,500 a month subsidy for their three boats would be restored if it broke ties
with the Boy Scouts or disavowed the policy against gays and Atheists. The Sea
Scouts refused and launched a court case -- Evans v. City of Berkeley, 06-40. A
lower court ruled that the city could treat the Sea Scouts differently from
other non-profits because of the Scouts' membership policies. In 2006-MAR, the
California Supreme Court let the decision stand. They determined that municipal
governments are under no obligation to extend benefits to organizations that
discriminate. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case.
6
ReligionToday's News Summary reported on 2000-AUG-30 that:
"Some
support for the Boy Scouts is eroding. In the two months since the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America has a constitutional right to exclude
homosexuals, Chicago, San Francisco, and San Jose, CA, have told local Scout
troops that they can no longer use parks and schools. ... Large companies including Chase Manhattan Bank and Textron Inc., have withdrawn hundreds of thousands of
dollars in funding, and numerous United Ways have cut off funds amounting to
millions of dollars a year."
The Connecticut state government "banned contributions to the Scouts by
state employees through a state-run charity." The Connecticut Commission
on Human Rights and Opportunities is evaluating whether to allow the BSA to
continue to use public campgrounds, public schools, and other state-owned
buildings. In 2004, a court rejected an appeal by the BSA to reinstate their
status. 6
The city of Fort Lauderdale, FL, voted in 2000-SEP to discontinue a grant to
the local Boy Scouts. They would have given $4,000 to the BSA Learning for
Life program which benefits public school children in high crime areas. At a
support rally for the BSA, Larry Thompson, pastor of the First Baptist Church
of Fort Lauderdale presented a check for $10,200 to the Scouts to offset the
loss of municipal funding. In the same area of Florida, Broward County approved
a $92,884 grant for the Scouts, but require them to sign a contract which
includes a non-discrimination clause. This they cannot sign because one of the
prohibited grounds for discrimination is sexual orientation. Also, Miami-Dade
schools have postponed a Scout recruitment drive. "Miami Beach City
Commission on [2000] Sept. 13 voted unanimously to preliminarily approve a new
ordinance that would prevent the Boy Scouts from using city facilities for free."
2
In Michigan, the city councils of Ann Arbor and Detroit banned payroll
deductions from city employees to the Scouts and prohibited police and fire
departments from sponsoring scout troops. This action was required by the cities' human
rights ordinances.
According to the Associated Press:
"On a separate matter, federal judges in two other court cases that are
being appealed have ruled that government aid to the group is
unconstitutional because the Boy Scouts of America requires members to swear
an oath of duty to God."
" 'The issue of governments seeking to punish organizations
for exercising their First Amendment rights is a recurring one. There will
be other opportunities for the Supreme Court to affirm First Amendment
protections for organizations dealing with government agencies,' George
Davidson, the longtime attorney for the Scouts, said in a statement." 6
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- Candi Cushman, "Who's
Selling Out the Scouts?," Citizen, at:
http://www.family.org/
- "Florida Boy Scouts under attack," Focus on the Family,
at: http://www.family.org/
- Daniel Costello, "Some backers pull Boy Scouts' funding after high
courts ruling on gay scouts," Wall Street Journal, 2000-AUG-24
- "Florida Boy Scouts under attack," Focus on the Family,
at: http://www.family.org/
- Jessica McBride, "Scouts use 'Don't ask, don't tell'; Approach allows
council to sign United Way anti-bias policy," Journal Sentinel Online
(Milwaukee, WI), at:
http://www.jsonline.com/
- Mark Sherman, "Boy Scouts face setback in Supreme Court,"
Associated Press, 2006-OCT-16, at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
- Zach Wahls, "Intel: Stop funding discrimination!," Change.org, at: http://www.change.org
- Camille Beredjick, "UPS quits funding Boy Scouts over anti-gay policy," GayWrites.org, 2012-NOV-13, at: http://gaywrites.org/
- "Merck Foundation Severs Boy Scouts Funding Over Anti-Gay Policy," Huffington Post, 2012-DEC-10, at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
- Rich Ferrato, "Merck Foundation suspends funding to Boy Scouts of America until ban on gay scouts and leaders ends," Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, 2012-DEC-10, at: http://www.glaad.org/
Copyright © 1999 to 2012 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance.
Originally published on 1999-AUG-9
Latest updated: 2012-DEC-10
Author: B.A. Robinson
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