Irecently received in the mail an urgent request to support the cause of something called the Scouting Legal Defense Fund. "Hey, I'm an Eagle Scout," I thought cheerfully. "How can I help?"
According to the accompanying letter, my financial assistance was "desperately needed" to prevent the American Civil Liberties Union from using the courts to force the Boy Scouts of America to accept gay scoutmasters. This potential catastrophe, the letter said, "will destroy the Boy Scouts' mission to instill wholesome values and provide solid role models to young men to help them become responsible, well-rounded citizens."
After a few phone calls, I came to find out that the ACLU has no active cases against the Boy Scouts. And many past cases focused on the exclusion of atheist Scouts. The ACLU's basic position has been that if Scout troops are supported by the government, as many are, it is unconstitutional for members to be discriminated against based on sexual orientation or religious beliefs. Several legal settlements have led to government sponsorship being withdrawn.
Boy Scouts: A Feb. 12 Op-Ed article about the Boy Scouts' exclusion of gays stated that the American Civil Liberties Union had no active cases against the Boy Scouts of America. There is an open federal case from San Diego. In 2000, the ACLU sued San Diego and the Boy Scouts of America on behalf of the sons of an agnostic family and a gay family alleging discrimination. The ACLU won in U.S. District Court, and the city settled. The Boy Scouts appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit, which has not ruled.
Years ago, the last time this gays-in-Scouting dust-up made it onto my radar, my brothers and I -- all three of us are Eagle Scouts -- fretted over the right expression of dissent. We considered sending back our Eagle badges, as others did, in protest. That we ultimately didn't says less about the extent of our outrage than our pride in achieving something fewer than 1% of Scouts manage. I worked hard for that -- suffered, even -- and, ashamedly in retrospect, I wasn't willing to give it up in the name of principle.
At that time, Ethan was 6 or 7 and asking my wife and me about Scouting. We tried to explain why we felt that the organization's decision to exclude children or adult volunteers based on their sexual orientation was antithetical to our ideals. In our view, if we wanted to raise Ethan to have "wholesome values" and be a "well-rounded citizen," then he couldn't participate in a club that openly discriminated. Frankly, I'd like to keep the orienteering merit badge focused on learning how to use a compass.
