Tag Archives: Group: Boy Scouts

New Jersey Newsroom: The Secular Coalition for America today said the Boy Scouts’ recent decision to allow openly gay boys is a positive step in the right direction, but does not go far enough. The SCA expressed disappointment that the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has decided to continue its policy of discrimination against atheists and gay Scout leaders. | Freedom from Religion Foundation: Boy Scouts of America still practices discrimination

USA Today: “The Boy Scouts of America has been built upon the values of faith and family for more than 100 years and (Thursday’s) decision contradicts generations of tradition in the name of political correctness,” Perry said in a statement. “While I will always cherish my time as a scout and the life lessons I learned, I am greatly disappointed with this decision.”

Christian Post: “Sadly, the Boy Scouts Executive National Council’s decision disregards not only the nearly 19,000 Americans who signed a petition urging BSA to ‘uphold the values that have defined the organization for over 100 years,’ but also the millions of Americans who have supported the program,” stated Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel David Cortman shortly after the decision. [more including MorgonToon via ADF Media; Morgantoon also linked here.]

Martinsville Media: Nearly 19,000 past or current members of the Scouts signed a petition from Alliance Defending Freedom, which was delivered to the Boy Scouts this week, urging it to keep the ban.

Everything Lubbock: Nearly 19,000 past or current members of the Scouts signed a petition from Alliance Defending Freedom, which was delivered to the Boy Scouts this week, urging it to keep the ban.

WorldNetDaily: This week, the Alliance Defending Freedom delivered a petition with 18,724 signatures to the BSA urging the organization to adhere to traditional American values. Meanwhile, the homosexual-advocacy group Scouts for Equality said it delivered nearly 300,000 petition signatures asking the BSA to end its ban on homosexual members.

Christianity Today: Lawyers also have warned about the dangers of the BSA’s proposal. In March, the Alliance Defending Freedom said that the change could undermine a Supreme Court ruling from 2000 that affirmed the Scouts’ current membership policies—including the promise to remain morally straight. The potential consequence of voting to allow gay members but exclude gay leaders? THE BSA could be exposed to a torrent of lawsuits, Baptist Press reported. Some lawyers have warned that “the proposed policy is vulnerable to attacks that it is internally inconsistent both morally and logically.”

KWTX.com: The non-profit religious rights group Alliance Defending Freedom also condemned the change. “Those promoting the agenda to change what the Boy Scouts have always been won’t rest until there is complete acceptance of any sexual preference for both leaders and members. With its decision today, BSA has rejected its freedom to promote and practice the values that have served to shape our nation’s boys into leaders for the last century,” Senior Counsel David Cortman said in a statement.

Sadly, the Boy Scouts Executive National Council’s decision disregards not only the nearly 19,000 Americans who signed a petition urging BSA to ‘uphold the values that have defined the organization for over 100 years,’ but also the millions of Americans who have supported the program. Those promoting the agenda to change what the Boy Scouts have always been won’t rest until there is complete acceptance of any sexual preference for both leaders and members.

OnMyHonor.net: What’s Next

“It is with great sadness and deep disappointment that we recognize on this day that the most influential youth program in America has turned a tragic corner. The vote today to allow open and avowed homosexuality into Scouting will completely transform it into an unprincipled and risky proposition for parents. It is truly a sad day for Scouting. The Boy Scouts of America has a logo that bears the phrase ‘Timeless Values.’ Today, the BSA can no longer use this phrase in good faith. It has demonstrated by its actions that the organization’s values are not timeless, and instead they are governed by changing tides of polls, politics and public opinion.

Wayne Perry at USA Today: Boy Scouts president: Let in gay boys
While some people wish the proposed resolution would go further, it was clear from our listening phase that changing adult standards would have conflicted with the majority of our partners, 70% of which are religious organizations, and would have disrupted our ability to deliver Scouting.

GOP USA: Through those petitions, the gay Scouts and their supporters have delivered 1.8 million signatures to Scout leadership “calling for the end of the ban against gay teens and adults,” said Rich Ferraro, a spokesman for GLAAD. “Yesterday, the Alliance Defending Freedom — the only organization I’ve heard of that’s done it — delivered 19,000 signatures calling for them to keep the ban in place.” That, Ferraro said, means that “America is ready, and not just gay America. It’s our straight friends and families who don’t support anti-gay discrimination.”

World Net Daily: “The Boy Scouts of America shouldn’t give in to intimidation or abandon its values,” said Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for Arizona-based ADF and an Eagle Scout. Scouting begins as young as 6 and continues through age 18. “The Boy Scouts should once again stand firm on moral principles that have successfully shaped our nation’s boys into leaders for generations,” says David Cortman, senior ADF counsel.

LifeSiteNews: “The Boy Scouts should once again stand firm on moral principles that have successfully shaped our nation’s boys into leaders for generations,” said Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) spokesman David Cortman, whose group delivered the petition to the BSA. “This is the expressed desire of thousands of Scouts and their families who have signed this petition. The Constitution protects the Boy Scouts’ freedom to promote the values that have defined the organization and to ensure that its leaders and members adhere to those values.”

OnMyHonor.net: Meeting Thursday in Grapevine, Texas, the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America will decide whether it will retain or revise its historic membership policy on the issue of homosexuality. The 1,400 voting members of the B.S.A. National Council hold the future of one of America’s most iconic organizations in their hands. In reality, they are not only deciding a matter of membership policy. They are actually deciding the future of the entire organization.

Christian Post: “The Boy Scouts should once again stand firm on moral principles that have successfully shaped our nation’s boys into leaders for generations,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel David Cortman, whose group delivered the petition. “This is the expressed desire of thousands of Scouts and their families who have signed this petition. The Constitution protects the Boy Scouts’ freedom to promote the values that have defined the organization and to ensure that its leaders and members adhere to those values.”

AP: The Boy Scouts of America will convene a two-day meeting of 1,400 local leaders to consider changing its long-standing ban on openly gay boys in the scouting movement.

One News Now: The Boy Scouts of America “shouldn’t give in to intimidation or abandon its values,” says Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel at Arizona-based ADF and an Eagle Scout.

Dallas Morning News: “The U.S. Constitution protects the Boy Scouts’ freedom to promote the values that have defined the organization and to ensure that its leaders and members adhere to those values,” wrote David Cortman, senior counsel for the law firm.

Charisma News: The Boy Scouts should once again stand firm on moral principles that have successfully shaped our nation’s boys into leaders for generations,” says senior counsel David Cortman. “This is the expressed desire of thousands of Scouts and their families who have signed this petition. The Constitution protects the Boy Scouts’ freedom to promote the values that have defined the organization and to ensure that its leaders and members adhere to those values.” [more]

Alliance Defending Freedom has delivered a petition to the Boy Scouts of America signed by 18,724 Americans–including 11,795 who are members of current or former Scouting families or are former Scouts themselves. The petition urges BSA to “uphold the values that have defined the organization for over 100 years” and to reject any efforts to change its membership policy.

National Review Bench Memos: The National Catholic Committee on Scouting has issued a statement that, if properly applied, ought to require faithful Catholic scout leaders to vote against the Boy Scouts of America’s proposed resolution to allow openly gay youth members. The NCCS statement reads in part (emphasis added) . . .

Ed Whelan at NRO: What this demonstrates is that the BSA’s top leaders aren’t serious about finding some middle ground. Instead, they’re trying to snooker and bamboozle local scout leaders and parents to embrace a proposal that isn’t sustainable and that will lead in short order to a wholesale abandonment of the existing policy against openly gay adult leaders.

David Cortman on the Sam Malone Show to discuss the upcoming Boy Scouts vote. | MP3 audio 5:37 mins | BSA Executive Committee’s Decision On Resolution Caves Under The Guise Of Compromise

CNSNews: The results of a Boy Scouts of America (BSA) survey shows that a majority of members support keeping in place the policy that prohibits homosexuals from joining or leading the organization.

Austin Ruse at Crisis Magazine: There’s deception going on in the front office of the Boy Scouts. It includes deliberate misrepresentation of polling data, and threats to pack an upcoming meeting with anonymous and unqualified voters so that the Boy Scout policy on homosexuality gets forced on the majority of Scouts and parents who don’t want it.

NBC: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has given tacit approval to the Boy Scouts’ proposal to allow gay youth to join, saying they “appreciate the positive things” included in the plan to end the organization’s controversial ban on gay boys.

The Christian Civic League has posted this article by John Stemberg that outlines the situation.

Washington Times: “This is no compromise; it is capitulation, plain and simple,” said David Cortman, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, which supports the BSA’s current membership policy that bans “open or avowed homosexuals” from Scouting.

Anthony Esolen at Public Discourse: The Boy Scouts are en route to holding that there is nothing to being a boy, and nothing to the boy’s becoming a man; they might as well be the Unisex Scouts, as they are in Canada, where the scouting movement has collapsed.

John Stemberger at Wash. Times: Virtually every news story on this topic erroneously frames this issue as the Boy Scouts “bans gays” or “discriminates against gays.” This is simply not true. Contrary to what the media might report, the Boy Scouts do not discriminate against homosexuals. The BSA membership application does not even ask about sexual orientation.

Washington Post: It’s often said you can’t please all of the people all of the time. But in announcing a proposal to lift the ban on gay scouts but not gay leaders, the Boy Scouts have managed to please no one at all.

Ed Whelan at NRO: Unfortunately, the proposed resolution gives ample signs of being ill-considered and unsustainable. Some observations . . .

Ken Klukowski at Breitbart: A faction in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) just proposed a resolution to change BSA’s longstanding policy regarding openly homosexual behavior, one that will subject them to crippling lawsuits and cannot possibly survive over time. Regardless of where a person stands on the question of whether there should be open and avowed homosexuals in the Boy Scouts, this policy doesn’t make sense either way.

WorldNetDaily: Ties to a corporate world that has largely accommodated the gay-rights agenda have brought the Scouts to the point of voting on whether they should abandon their century-old policy of forbidding members who openly declare they are homosexual, argues Randy Sharp, director of special projects for the American Family Association. Sharp’s group is mobilizing supporters to urge Boy Scouts executive board member Randall Stephenson, the CEO of AT&T, to resign.

Washington Times: A draft resolution for a proposed membership policy, to be released by BSA officials publicly by Monday, will be voted on by some 1,400 delegates of the BSA National Council at a three-day meeting in Grapevine, Texas, starting May 22.

AP: The Scouts announced Friday that it would submit this proposal to the roughly 1,400 voting members of its National Council at a meeting in Texas the week of May 20.

The Proposed Resolution is here.

David Cortman at Townhall: Why can’t the Boy Scouts of America hold to the same moral code and resulting lifestyle principles they’ve held to since their formation? Has the moral code changed? No. What’s changed is the brazenness of those who oppose both the code and those who stand by it.

Alan Sears at Alliance Defending Freedom: This week’s deadline for filing your 2012 U.S. income taxes is a good reminder that many organizations you care about depend on Alliance Defending Freedom to defend their tax credits and tax-exempt status. Just this month, we’ve intervened in two cases to protect your religious freedom from groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, who once again are proving that their idea of liberty does not include parents deciding where their children are educated.

Jeremy Tedesco of Alliance Defending Freedom and John O’Connor of Equality California on Due Diligence Voice of Russia Radio to discuss this: Should Calif. punish Boy Scouts with loss of tax-exempt status? | MP3 audio 16:58 mins

Alliance Defending Freedom at Christian Post: California Senator Ricardo Lara is the latest in a series of people and entities to bully young boys. This phrase is intended to be as shocking as it sounds, only because the advocacy he is engaging in is equally so.

Alliance Defending Freedom: Senator Lara and Equality California should issue a formal apology for trying to bully BSA into changing its values. And, if UPS or Intel has the courage to stand up to the bullies and defend Scouts’ honor, they should publically reward Boy Scouts of America’s excellent service with true charitable gifts—the kind that come with no strings attached.

The Blaze: “SB 323′s primary purpose is to penalize BSA based on its constitutionally protected membership policy and the values that underlie it,” lawyers for the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom wrote in a letter to lawmakers last week. “This type of targeted punishment of a group based on how it exercises its associational and free speech rights violates the First Amendment.”

Washington Post (AP): “SB 323’s primary purpose is to penalize BSA based on its constitutionally protected membership policy and the values that underlie it,” lawyers for the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom wrote in a letter to lawmakers last week. “This type of targeted punishment of a group based on how it exercises its associational and free speech rights violates the First Amendment.” | also at NBC

Examiner.com: Lawyers for the Alliance Defending Freedom, took not of the bill, pointing out that it is a violation of the First Amendment: “SB323′s primary purpose is to penalize BSA based on its constitutionally protected membership policy and the values that underlie it. This type of targeted punishment of a group based on how it exercises its associational and free speech rights violates the First Amendment.”

Charisma: Youth organizations that have benefitted America for generations should be free from harassment by politicians who don’t agree with the very values that have made these groups successful,” said Senior Counsel David Cortman. “The Constitution protects the freedom of youth organizations like the Boy Scouts to promote the values that have defined them as an organization and to ensure that their leaders and members adhere to those values.” . . . “The First Amendment protects the freedom of youth organizations to associate with members and leaders who share their values,” added Senior Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco. “Our youth deserve to continue to benefit from these groups, and bills like SB 323 severely threaten their ability to do so.” [more]

One News Now: Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel David Cortman says nonprofits serving youths have constitutional protection to promote their beliefs and values. “America’s youth organizations that have benefitted our country for generations should be free from harassment by politicians who don’t agree with the very values that have made these groups successful,” says Cortman. “The Constitution protects the freedom of youth organizations like the Boy Scouts to promote the values that have defined them as an organization for well over 100 years.” . . . . ADF senior legal counsel Jeremy Tedesco explains further. “The First Amendment protects the freedom of youth organizations to associate with members and leaders who share their values,” he explains. “Our youth deserve to continue to benefit from these groups, and bills like SB 323 severely threaten their ability to do so.”

lliance Defending Freedom sent a letter to members of the California Legislature Friday to explain the significant legal and policy problems of a proposed bill designed to punish non-profit youth organizations like the Boy Scouts of America

Speak Up Movement: You may be tempted to think if marriage is redefined to include same-sex couples, then the whole issue may just go away and the two sides can come to some sort of grudging peace. Everyone can get on with their lives, right? Well, not so fast. One of the things that is often overlooked in the debate over marriage is the effect redefining marriage will have on religious freedom. In short, redefining marriage to include same-sex couples poses a significant threat to religious freedom. Examples abound to illustrate this fact . . .

Todd Starnes at Human Events: A federal civil rights complaint has been filed against the Salt Lake City School Board after a principal booted a Cub Scout pack from an elementary school.

Baptist Press: A group of parents and scoutmasters has launched OnMyHonor.net in an effort to keep sex and politics out of the Boy Scouts of America.

CTPost.com: The Boy Scouts of America have rejected an application for a scouting troop sponsored by a Utah gay rights organization.

Todd Starnes at Townhall: “It would be an enormous mistake if they allowed homosexuality in scouting,” he said. “They have no idea what these folks really want to do.” Stemberger said there are already gays in scouting — “they are discreet, they are appropriate, they are private and they don’t act out in front of kids.”
“What they want is full-blown gay activism in scouting,” he said, “and that’s what they can’t have under the current policy.”

WESH.com: The Boy Scouts are one of the great jewels of American culture,” said John Stemberger, Eagle Scout and founder of OnMyHonor.net. “We support the current policy of scouting, which is backed by over 100 years of tradition and allows anyone to participate irrespective of sexual orientation, only disallowing the open and aggressive promotion of homosexuality and political agendas. When it comes to young boys, parents have the final say on the issues of sex and politics.”

Newsmax: The group’s campaign, dubbed “Keep Scouting Free of Sex and Politics,” is sure to grab the attention of BSA CEO Wayne Brock and BSA National Commissioner Tico Perez, who will be attending the town hall gathering.

SanDiego6: A civil rights group is ending a decade-old lawsuit over San Diego’s leasing of city property to the Boy Scouts.

LifeSiteNews: The Boy Scouts of America are asking for citizens across the country to express their opinion about the BSA’s policy barring open homosexuals from joining the group as members or scoutmasters. In a tiny link at the top of their website, the Scouts announced their review of the policy. A second link simply asks readers, “Share your feedback.”

Dave Cortman at Washington Times: In the interest of remaining this force for good, Boy Scouts has focused its membership and leadership guidelines on those things that correspond with the “morally straight” aspects of the pledge and the “high ideals and proper behavior” Fisher referenced.

CNSNews: More than 60 state and local Texas lawmakers signed a letter urging the Boy Scouts of America to maintain policies that support “family values and moral principles.”

Newsitem.com: The Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way Board announced Friday it will be placing discretionary funding for the Susquehanna Council of Boy Scouts of America on “pause” while the national Boy Scouts of America organization concludes its review of a policy of “not granting membership to open or avowed homosexuals.”

Matthew Staver at Orlando Sentinel: A national uproar apparently caused the executive board of the Boy Scouts of America to postpone until May a vote on whether to allow homosexual Scouts and Scoutmasters among their ranks.

Michael Foust at Baptist Press: The Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution that criticizes Boy Scouts leadership for trying to change the policy on homosexuality but also urges the Scouts’ voting members to uphold the current policy in May.

Video here.

FRC: Three public interest law firms (Alliance Defending Freedom, Liberty Counsel, and Liberty Institute) have offered to give counsel to BSA in their efforts to maintain their policy. Those standing with the Scouts are strong in number, but the other side will continue to use bullying tactics to eliminate this common sense policy. This is why we must redouble our efforts.

AP: The Boy Scouts of America put off a decision Wednesday on whether to lift its ban on gay members and leaders, saying the question will be taken up at the organization’s national meeting in May.

Baptist Press: Facing pressure from its supporters and members, the Boy Scouts executive board announced Wednesday it is delaying a decision on lifting its prohibition of gay Scout leaders and members until May, when it will put the matter before its 1,400 voting members.

Biz Journals: Making the proposed policy change would have profound implications regarding religious liberty and First Amendment rights,” said Liberty Institute President Kelly Shackelford in concert with Mathew Staver, Chairman and Founder of Liberty Counsel, and Gary McCaleb, Chief Solicitor and Executive Vice President of Alliance Defending Freedom. “We are also happy to provide representation to protect your First Amendment rights if you choose to continue respecting and adhering to your longstanding view of what the Scout Oath means when a scout promises to be “morally straight.”

Dallas Morning News: This morning, a group representing gay Boy Scouts and Scout leaders presented petitions urging the Boy Scouts of America to rescind its ban on gay members.

Religion Clause Blog: The three largest religious sponsors are Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (37,000 units), the Methodist Church (11,000 units) and the Roman Catholic Church (8,000 units).

Counton2.com: In a letter to top Boy Scout officials, Liberty Institute, Liberty Counsel and the Alliance Defending Freedom note that the Supreme Court upheld the ban as part of scouting’s self-defined mission to instill morals, so making gay membership optional would suggest the Boy Scouts no longer consider homosexuality immoral. The letter says that would expose scout troops that disagree to discrimination lawsuits they can’t afford.

One News Now: In a letter to top Boy Scout officials, Liberty Institute, Liberty Counsel and the Alliance Defending Freedom note that the Supreme Court upheld the ban as part of scouting’s self-defined mission to instill morals, so making homosexual membership optional would suggest the Boy Scouts no longer consider homosexuality immoral.

USA Today: This would be a grave mistake. Every American who believes in freedom of thought and religious liberty should be alarmed by the attacks upon the Boy Scouts, who have had core convictions about morality for 100 years. Every Scout takes an oath to keep himself “morally straight.”

Washington Post: Obama gave a one-word answer: “Yes.” Pressed to elaborate, Obama said, “I think that my attitude is that gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity the same way everybody else does in every institution and walk of life.”

Robert Knight at Washington Times: In other words, sponsoring organizations could now coerce Scout troops to accept openly homosexual men and boys. Scout councils in liberal jurisdictions would lose the national shield. Those who resist would be kicked out of schools and other locales. This “local option” would signal surrender and destroy the Boy Scouts. Without parental trust, the Boy Scouts, founded in 1910 and which have been instrumental in helping millions of boys transition to manhood, would implode like a popped balloon. Does anyone other than left-wing ideologues and America’s enemies think this would be good for America?

World Net Daily: Just as details emerged of growing financial and political pressure on the Boy Scouts to reverse a century-old and Supreme Court-approved policy barring homosexuals, the president of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays issued a plea to the Scouts to seriously consider the dangers of giving in . . .