Sea Scout case goes to high court

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Mar 27, 2003 | by Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER

Berkeley's refusal to provide a free municipal marina berth to a group connected to the Boy Scouts of America, which doesn't allow gay members or leaders, will be reviewed by the California Supreme Court.

The state's highest court decided Wednesday to hear the appeal of the Berkeley Sea Scouts, whose lawsuit against the city was shot down by Alameda County Superior Court Judge A. Richman in 2001 and by the California Court of Appeal in 2002.

In 1997, the city ended six decades of providing of a free berth to the group because it shared its parent organization's prohibition of participation by gays.

Other nonprofits remained eligible for free berthing.

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the Boy Scouts of America's right as a private organization to exclude gays, and the Sea Scouts say Berkeley's denial violates their rights to associate and speak freely.

But the Court of Appeal ruled the city didn't force the Sea Scouts to change their policy; it just wants them to pay the going rate of $516 per month for a marina berth.

"The United States Supreme Court has upheld federal laws that require publicly subsidized services to be provided on a nondiscriminatory basis," City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said in a statement issued Wednesday. "We expect the California Supreme Court to make it clear that similar requirements imposed in Berkeley and by other local governments and the state are equally valid, as the trial and appellate courts found."

Jonathan D. Gordon, the Sea Scouts' attorney, couldn't be reached to comment Wednesday.

Contact Josh Richman at jrichman@angnewspapers.com .