Tucson, Arizona Is Latest Municipality To Ban Public Funding Of BSA

he controversy over public funding of the Boy Scouts of America -- a groups which uses a sexual and religious test for prospective members -- continues to spread as governments, corporations and charitable agencies sever their ties with the group. Supporters of the organization on capitol hill, though, have introduced legislation which would prohibit the federal government from using any public money to discriminate against, investigate, or deny access to any public property or facilities to the scouts.

    The measure, dubbed the "Scouts Honor Act" (H.R. 5306) would also prohibit any entity that receives federal funds "to compel the Boy Scouts of America to employ, enroll, or accept as a member or volunteer an individual whose sexual orientation, sexual behavior, religious beliefs, or absence of religious beliefs is determined by the Boy Scouts of America to be inconsistent with the organizations' policies, programs, morals or mission."

    Introduced by Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, the bill has 32 cosponsors and is currently in the House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims. It comes just weeks after the House rejected a proposal by Rep. Lynn Woolsey to withdraw the BSA's special Congressional Charter. Many of the sponsors are members of the Values Action Team, a congressional caucus headed by Rep. Joseph Pitts which was two years in response to pressure from James Dobson, head of the powerful Focus on the Family organization.

    The Tancredo legislation comes as state and local governments, as well as school districts, companies and funding agencies reexamine their ties to the BSA. In late June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA v. DALE that the BSA was a private, "expressive association" and could thus discriminate against homosexuals in its hiring practices. The group requires that prospective members and leaders be "morally straight," and swear a religious oath. Adults wishing to work with the BSA are required to sign a "Declaration of Religious Principle." In a 5-4 ruling, justices opined that such practices were protected under the group's freedom of expression.

    That has not stopped a growing number of public and private agencies from reconsidering their special funding relationship with the BSA. Major firms such as Chase Manhattan Bank, Levi Strauss and Textron, Inc. have ended their financial contributions to the group, and school districts in California, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New York have abolished the BSA's special access to schools.

    Last week, the Tucson, Arizona City Council voted 7-0 to end direct city funding of any nonprofit organization which discriminated on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sexual orientation or marital status, thus denying the BSA's Catalina Council $29,000 in public funds. Also affected are agencies like the United Way, which receives $1.7 million in city monies.

    Earlier, a local school district in Tucson voted to begin charging a fee to the BSA for use of elementary school facilities.

    The flap over the Boy Scouts of America has spread throughout the country. Last week, a school district in New York City withdrew its support for the scouts, and the chancellor for the municipal Board of Education has asked the legal staff to examine whether or not the BSA is in compliance with the board's anti-discrimination policy. Chicago has banned the BSA from free use of city parks, buildings and other facilities. In Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., the Broward County Public Schools are planning to revoke a special "preferential treatment" agreement with the BSA, and in San Diego, the ACLU has filed suit to challenge a county "sweetheart deal" that rents the BSA 18 acres of municipal park land for $1 a year.

    The Washington Post notes that the controversy is now spilling out beyond the D.C. beltway to places like Anne Arundel County. There, the school board is wrestling with the issue of BSA discrimination and has been asked by concerned parents to sever ties with the scouting organization.

    More overt signs of protest are also beginning to appear. In Simi Valley, California, Stuart Bechman has started the Free Our Families Foundation. The group recently posted a 3-by-6-foot banner directly beneath a Boy Scouts recruiting billboard at Madera Road and Los Angeles Avenue. The foundation's sign read: "Intolerant, God-fearing heterosexuals only! Gays, theists and persons interested in tolerance and diversity need not apply..."

    Bechman says that after a city code enforcement officer removed the sign the following day, the Ventura County Council of the BSA also took down its sign which urges: "Join Cub Scouts. Fun. Friends. Sports. Values. Adventure." In a statement to the news media, Bechman -- a former Eagle Scout and freelance computer programmer -- said that he found it hypocritical for the Scouts "to recruit as if the organization was tolerant and open to all youth without exception."

    "The Boy Scouts do a lot of good things," added Bechman. "They do build character in boys. They do contribute a great deal of good work to the community. It's just a shame they refuse a certain segment of the community to benefit from the value..."

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