| MND COMMENTARY |
Shutting down the Scouts September 26, 2003 by Hans Zeiger "A Scout is trustworthy." But the City of Philadelphia isn't keeping a 75-year old promise to the Boy Scouts. In 1928, the Philadelphia City Council took note of the good turns that the Boy Scouts were doing throughout the city. The city council voted in favor of allowing the Cradle of Liberty Boy Scout Council to utilize a half-acre plot of public land at 22nd and Winter Streets "in perpetuity." By 1929, construction of the Boy Scout Resource Center was complete. Today, three quarters of a century years later, Philadelphia's Cradle of Liberty Boy Scout Council is being told that it will be kicked out of the historic headquarters because of the Boy Scouts' policy excluding homosexuals and atheists from positions of leadership and membership. Last week, the Philadelphia mayor's Chief of Staff, Joyce Wilkerson informed the Boy Scouts of a policy opinion by City Solicitor Nelson Diaz. Diaz decided that the city's non-discrimination policies are in direct conflict with the Boy Scouts' rent-free land use. The city will give the Scouts one year to leave the land or compromise on moral virtue and retain use of the headquarters. The trouble began in late May when Philadelphia Cradle of Liberty Boy Scout Council decided to allow homosexual and atheist members and leaders, a move that was quickly denounced by the national Boy Scouts organization. Under threat of losing their national charter, the Philadelphia Scouts reversed the new policy. As a consequence, the council has lost significant amounts of funding from the local United Way and other charities. Since the national BSA told the Philadelphia BSA to remain morally straight, the City of Philadelphia has faced a barrage of letters, calls, emails, and city council testimony from radical homosexual activists asking the city to boot the Scouts off of city land. Malcolm Lazin, executive director of the Philadelphia-based homosexual front group Equality Forum, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that "the city is now obliged to terminate the lease. This is an organization that discriminates and should not be given what is, in essence, a sweetheart deal." And Stacey Sobel of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights said, "This is another message to the local and national Boy Scouts that they cannot continue to do business as usual." Of course, the Boy Scouts has always excluded people that openly
fall short of the Scout Oath and Law. But Ms. Sobel is wrong: in these
politically correct days, standing for the family and duty to God
is not business as usual. No one should be forced to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. But the City of Philadelphia should have the instinctive desire to say that it encourages and endorses those things. America should never have come so near to the point of dismantling the statue of a Boy Scout in front of the Philadelphia BSA Headquarters instead of exalting it high on the pedestal of civic and community respectability. Of course, Philadelphia is not the only government body that has supported the cause of young men doing a good turn daily, being prepared, and staying physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. School districts allow Scout troops to meet in school buildings without charge. Cities develop partnerships with Eagle Scout candidates to assist with community service projects. Counties contract out to Boy Scout councils so they can provide after-school programs to inner city youth. And Congress first gave a charter to the Boy Scouts of America in 1916. No one would dare to challenge the chartered relationship that exclusive veterans groups like Jewish War Veterans and Catholic War Veterans have with the federal government. And no one should suggest that the moral standards of the Boy Scouts of America are less than honorable. Few institutions in society place greater emphasis on honor than the Boy Scouts of America. The city has some business with honor too - it needs to honor an old commitment. If they don't, they will end a vital relationship with an organization that has contributed so much to Philadelphia's quality of life. Citizens can contact Philadelphia Mayor John Street's Chief of Staff, Joyce Wilkerson, at (215)686-7508 and joyce.Wilkerson@phila.gov Hans Zeiger, 18, is a Seattle Times columnist, activist, and speaker. As an Eagle Scout, he is president of the Scout Honor Coalition. |
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