Boy Scouts winning battle for funds

Human Events, Sep 22, 2000 by D'Agostino, Joseph A

BY JOSEPH A. D'AGOSTINO

Despite some liberal newspaper reports to the contrary, the Boy Scouts of America have not lost significant funding or access to public facilities due to their policy of excluding homosexuals.

Boy Scouts of America spokesman Gregg Shields told HUMAN EVENTS last week that the controversy "has had no significant effect" on Scout fundraising or activities.

Two prominent homosexual-rights groups, moreover, say they will no longer support efforts to litigate against the Scouts' homosexual exclusion policy because they believe that avenue was closed by this summer's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Scouts are a private organization with the right to set its own membership criteria The groups, however, would still like to see the Scouts defunded by the United Way.

Another measure of public support for the Scouts came last week on the floor of the House of Representatives, where a bill to revoke the Scouts' federal charter because of the group's exclusion of homosexuals failed overwhelmingly, 362 to 12 (see rollcall, page 27).

Nonetheless, speculation that the Scouts were in big trouble was sparked by an inaccurate story that ran on the front page of the August 29 New York Times.

The story, headlined "Scouts' Successful Ban on Gays Is Followed by Loss in Support," began: "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. . . . Dozens of United Ways from Massachusetts to San Francisco have cut off money amounting to millions of dollars each year."

These assertions are false, say both Shields and Tony DeCristofaro, the spokesman for the United Way of America.

"There are 1,440 United Ways around the country, each independently incorporated and making its own funding decisions says DeCristofaro. "Since the Supreme Court decision, three have stopped grants to the Boy Scouts." Those three are in Providence, R.L; Fall River, Mass.; and Ithaca, N.Y

In the past decade, said DeCristofaro; only eight others have eliminated funding of the Boy Scouts due to the homosexual issue. Those United Way chapters are in San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz, Calif.; Santa Fe, N.M.; Portland, Maine; New Haven and Branford, Conn.; and Somerset, N.J.

"There could be one that might not have told us," DeCristofaro conceded. He added that a few other chapters have shifted their funding from unrestricted grants to Boy Scout councils to specific Boy Scout activities that are open to all, Boy Scouts or not, homosexual or not..

"The New York Times's is the most egregious," DeCristofaro said of exaggerated and false news stories about the impact of the Supreme Court decision on support for the Scouts. "The reporter, who is probably a very competent journalist, neve called our office. Even though I was on the phone with the Times the day the _story appeared, they let it stand on the record for eight days."

Shields confirmed that "less than a dozen" United Way chapters have cut off their funding for the Boy Scouts over the last decade because of the homosexual issue.

In a 216-word correction run September 6, the Times said, "A front-page article on August 29 and an editorial on Sunday about a falloff in support for the Boy Scouts because of their exclusion of gays misstated two cities' reactions to the ban. Chicago no longer lets the Boy Scouts use parks, city buildings and schools without charge. The public schools of San Francisco no longer sponsor Scout recruitment drives or other programs during school hours. The Scouts are not barred from using parks, schools and other sites. The article also misstated the timing of those restrictions. They began before the Supreme Court upheld the ban in June, not afterward. The article also cited one city erroneously among those that bar the Scouts from their facilities. Although one San Jose elementary school district, Alum Rock Union, does not permit recruiting or other Scout programs during-school hours, the ban is attributed to demands on instructional time, not to the Scouts' policy.

"The article also misstated the number of United Way organizations that have stopped raising funds for the Scouts. It is about a dozen, not dozens:'

DeCristofaro predicted that "a handful" of more United Way chapters would cut funding for the Boy Scouts, but said, "Overall, I expect funding will go up." Currently, $83.7 million a year is contributed to the Boy Scouts through United Ways, he said.

Said Shields, "We have received more contributions because of our position that make up for the few we have lost." He said that local governments and agencies may not exclude the Boy Scouts from facilities open to other private groups. "If a school board has a rule that there are no extracurricular activities on campus, fine," he said. "But if they allow other organizations in, they must allow us."