Berkeley City Council Reaches New Low

[eisely]

This story largely speaks for itself. The reference to a Sea Scout Ship being evicted is true. This unit is still in business elsewhere. The leadership of the unit is suing the City of Berkeley for breach of contract. Apparently the free lease in perpetuity at the city marina was in consideration of free rip rap provided by the scouts decades ago from a quarry owned by the scouts when the breakwater was first constructed.

 

A contest: How many points of the scout law has the City of Berkeley now breached?

 

Japanese scouts left in lurch by Berkeley

Gay councilman has meeting canceled

 

Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, August 7, 2001

 

 

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A group of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts from Japan found the welcome mat at Berkeley City Hall yanked out from under them yesterday after a city councilmember objected to the Boy Scouts of America's policy on gays.

 

The meeting at City Hall was to have been the ceremonial highlight of a weeklong visit to the United States for 38 scouts from Sakai, Berkeley's sister city in Japan.

 

"I feel it's very unfortunate because the children are innocent in all this, " said an American organizer of the program who asked not to be identified.

 

The Japanese visitors apparently were not told why they were barred from meeting at City Hall.

 

The scouts left in the lurch are here for a biannual exchange program. Following tradition going back many years, they had been scheduled to meet yesterday morning with Mayor Shirley Dean at City Hall, where they were to present an official proclamation from the mayor of Sakai.

 

The gathering would have included Boy and Girl Scouts from the Berkeley area, who are hosting the Japanese scouts.

 

Japanese scouts have no policy against gays, and the U.S. Girl Scouts officially ban discrimination. But the U.S. Boy Scouts' ban on openly gay leaders has roiled scouting ranks in recent years.

 

Dean canceled the event after Kriss Worthington, a gay member of the council, said city property should not host an organization that discriminates.

 

Instead the scouts are scheduled to meet with the mayor later outside the city at a location that Dean and organizers have kept secret.

 

Dean said she wanted to avoid having the Japanese visitors "be embarrassed or subjected to any problems." City Manager Weldon Rucker supported the decision to move the event out of City Hall, Dean said.

 

And Courtney Radsch, a spokeswoman for the Girl Scouts of the San Francisco Bay Area, said, "We're just happy that the mayor can meet (later) with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts from Japan."

 

"It's a non-story," said Dean, adding that the meeting is rescheduled for Friday at a private location in El Cerrito.

 

 

WRENCHING DEBATE

Berkeley went through a wrenching debate on the Boy Scouts' gay policy three years ago, when the City Council ended a 60-year tradition of providing free docking space to the Sea Scouts. City policy forbids subsidies for any group that discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation as well as race, gender and other factors.

 

The carrying of letters from one mayor to the other by the scouts has been a tradition of the Berkeley-Sakai sister-city program for many years. The presentation has always been at the City Hall of each city, said Denise Glaude,

 

a leader in the Berkeley-Albany Girl Scouts.

 

This is the 22nd year for the Boy Scout exchange program and the 20th for the Girl Scouts, she said.

 

Asked about the reaction from the Japanese visitors, Glaude said, "They just said, 'Oh.' "

 

Kevin Takei, chairman of the Boy Scouts hosting committee here, said the visitors were not told the reason for the cancellation.

 

"That's what we told them -- the mayor had to cancel. They didn't ask why," he said. "I think the most important thing is for them to present the letter of greeting from Sakai to the mayor of Berkeley."

 

The Japanese scouts and their leaders could not be reached for comment.

 

 

PUSH FOR FLYERS

Worthington said he would like to know the location of the meeting later in the week, because he would like to give flyers to the scouts saying Berkeley does not condone discrimination and asking them to oppose the Boy Scouts of America policy. Worthington had also wanted such flyers given to the scouts if they had come to City Hall.

 

Dean and organizers reached yesterday said they prefer not to disclose the location.

 

George Fosselius, who is assisting the Boy Scouts, said two places are under consideration and that the adults want to protect the youth from "embarrassment" and unwanted intrusion into their cultural exchange and scouting activities.

 

Dean said some of the scouts are too young to be confronted with the issue.

 

"Some of them are 10 and 12 years old." But she said she will "absolutely" answer any questions honestly and fully if she is asked.

 

Worthington, who recently declared his candidacy for the state Assembly, disagreed, saying, "There is no age too young to learn that sexism, racism and homophobia are unacceptable."

 

Because of their policies, Boy Scouts have been evicted from some public facilities around the country in recent years. Scouting parents and leaders are increasingly calling on the national Boy Scouts organization to repeal its policy.

 

At the Berkeley-Albany annual Solano Avenue Stroll last September, parents accompanying a contingent of Cub Scouts carried a banner saying, "Berkeley Scout Parents Say No to Homophobia."

 

The U.S. Supreme Court last summer upheld the Boy Scouts' policy on gays, but that did not end the controversy. Just last week, the Boy Scouts' plight made the cover of Newsweek, which reported, "Americans are increasingly torn over a beloved institution."

 

E-mail Charles Burress at cburress@sfchronicle.com.

 

 

[eisely]

Follow up story on the Berkeley fiasco.

 

Berkeley furor at snub of Scouts

Emotional outcry over Japanese group

 

Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, August 8, 2001

 

 

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Berkeley's mayor was under siege and a gay councilman was labeled everything from a hero to an idiot yesterday in a new uproar over the city's stumbling effort to oppose the Boy Scouts' ban on homosexual leaders.

 

Mayor Shirley Dean was assailed by unfriendly radio talk shows and angry residents after a Chronicle story about her decision to cancel a meeting Monday at City Hall with visiting Scouts from Japan.

 

Kriss Worthington, an openly gay member of the Berkeley City Council whose objections led to Dean's decision to keep the Scouts out of City Hall, said he received "very emotional" calls from people on both sides. Anti-Worthington epithets sent to The Chronicle from around the country ranged from "idiot" to the unprintable.

 

A spokesman for the Japanese government called the incident "unfortunate."

 

Dean had been scheduled to meet with 38 Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts from Berkeley's sister city in Japan, Sakai. Following a tradition of many years, the ceremonial highlight of their weeklong visit to the United States was to have been the presentation to her of a proclamation from the Sakai mayor at City Hall Monday morning.

 

Japanese Scouts have no policy on homosexuals, but because they would have been accompanied by Berkeley-area Boy Scouts, who are acting as hosts, Worthington objected. He said the city should not support an organization that discriminates.

 

A city law bans subsidies to groups that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, but the city attorney said Monday's event would not have violated that policy.

 

Dean said she acted to spare the Scouts embarrassment and possible protests.

 

The meeting was rescheduled for Friday at an undisclosed location outside the city.

 

"The cancellation was unfortunate," said Masaya Sagawa, a spokesman for the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco, "but I understand this is really a sensitive issue for American Boy Scouts."

 

The chairman of the Berkeley Boy Scout hosting committee, Kevin Takei, said the Japanese visitors were not told why they were barred from City Hall, only that the mayor had to cancel the meeting.

 

Yesterday's flurry of phone calls, e-mails and letters to the editor included those from frustrated Scout parents and leaders in Berkeley who said city political leaders should not attack the Berkeley Scouts, who routinely help clean and restore parks and school yards, but should cooperate with the local Scouts who oppose the national policy.

 

"We are not the problem," said Ellen Georgi, a Cub Scout leader and parent of three Scouts. "Living in Berkeley, we have our liberal ideals and we get slapped in the face wherever we go."

 

They're treated like pariahs by their own city and school district and as traitors outside the city, she said. At last week's national scouting Jamboree,

 

some Utah Scouts called them "homo lovers," she said.

 

Her Pack 30 risked its standing last year by issuing a statement opposing the national policy.

 

Her son Ryan, an Eagle Scout entering the University of California at Berkeley, recently completed a garden project at a Berkeley public school that won third place in a national contest, but he received no local recognition, not even a thanks from the principal, Georgi said.

 

"Why not glorify what Berkeley Scouts are doing instead of vilifying them?" complained Councilwoman Betty Olds, who opposes both the national Scout policy and the complaint raised by Worthington.

 

But Mark Chekal, former chairman of the Berkeley Community Health Commission, praised Worthington as a "hero," saying that anti-gay policies by the Boy Scouts and other influential organizations "are a large part of the problem that leads to teen gay and lesbian suicides."

 

Councilwoman Dona Spring said Berkeley Scouts should secede from the Boy Scouts of America and form an independent organization. She said Dean should have refused to meet with the Scouts in her official capacity.

 

Several communities across the country have banned Boy Scouts from regular use of public facilities, but Berkeley leaders were divided yesterday over whether they should go further and ban some visits to public property.

 

Spring said the Berkeley ban on subsidies to groups that discriminate should be expanded to include receptions involving city officials.

 

Worthington said he does not favor a ban on Boy Scouts merely being present on city property, but he said serving refreshments to them or accepting a proclamation from them might violate city policy or at least warrant turning the event into "an educational exercise" on discrimination.

 

A number of scouting groups around the country have called for the policy on gays to be changed, but they are opposed by a formidable movement of more conservative groups inside and outside the organization.

 

"It's one of those things where people feel very strongly on one side or the other," Worthington said.

 

 

 

[eisely]

Day Three

 

Snubbed Japanese Scouts get apology

Worthington blames 'knee-jerk' reaction

 

Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, August 9, 2001

 

 

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Berkeley -- Deluged by a torrent of anger and ridicule over Berkeley's pulling back the welcome mat for visiting Japanese Boy Scouts, City Council member Kriss Worthington apologized yesterday for how the problem was handled.

 

He also announced that he will join local scouting representatives today for a "united" stand against the Boy Scout ban on homosexuals on the steps of City Hall, where the scouts were barred from entering Monday.

 

"We just had a knee-jerk reaction," Worthington said, referring to roles played by him and Mayor Shirley Dean in canceling a scheduled meeting between Dean and a group of scouts from Japan. ". . . We're trying to do the right thing, but we ended up looking foolish because of Shirley and me."

 

Dean said she was "totally floored" by Worthington's statements, and defended her role.

 

The city, and Dean and Worthington in particular, have suddenly found themselves primary targets in the anguished battle being waged around the country over the Boy Scouts and gays. But the ire seems heightened in this case because in Berkeley, unlike in other places, the excluded scouts included Japanese Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, as well as U.S. Girl Scouts, not any of whom are involved in the homosexuality dispute.

 

Worthington said critical e-mails and phone calls are running about 10 to 1.

 

"Their instinctive reaction is thinking Berkeley hates all scouts," he said.

 

"I'm basically apologizing for the clumsiness of the city of Berkeley in the message that was received regarding our attempt to oppose the discrimination."

 

The 38 scouts from Berkeley's sister city in Japan, Sakai, had been scheduled to present Dean with a proclamation from Sakai's mayor. Following tradition going back many years in the exchange program, the presentation was to have been at City Hall, the ceremonial highlight of their weeklong trip.

 

They would have been accompanied by American Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, who are acting as their hosts, and Worthington, who is gay, protested. He repeated yesterday, as he said before, that his target was solely the American Boy Scouts, not the Japanese scouts or the U.S. Girl Scouts.

 

Although Berkeley's ban on subsidies to groups that discriminate would not have forbidden the meeting, Dean canceled it and had it rescheduled to take place at a private, undisclosed location tomorrow in El Sobrante. She said she wanted to avoid embarrassing the scouts and possible protests.

 

Worthington said he would have liked to have made the meeting into an "educational experience" about the Boy Scout ban on gays, but Dean said she didn't want the youths, some of whom are as young as 10, to be "caught in any kind of cross-fire."

 

Saying she too opposes the Boy Scouts' anti-homosexual policy, Dean said she felt the Monday meeting was "not the time or place" for such a discussion, and that it was up to the scouts' leaders and parents to decide how to raise the issue with them.

 

Dean said she will decline Worthington's invitation to City Council members to attend the 5 p.m. protest at City Hall steps today. She said she wants to calm the uproar in Berkeley, and she asked whether Worthington's actions "could have to do with the fact that he's running for Assembly."

 

Worthington has argued that no age is too young to be taught about discrimination, and he said his advocacy on this issue comes not from his political campaign but from his history of fighting for "progressive causes."

 

Dean and Worthington belong to opposing political factions on the council and have clashed sharply on several issues.

 

Worthington said today's City Hall gathering will include representatives of local scout groups, who complained earlier this week that they were being unfairly vilified when many of them are opposed to the national Scout policy.

 

Karen Lewis, who is co-host to the Japanese Girl Scouts, said their leaders were informed of the controversy and preferred not to comment.

 

E-mail Charles Burress at cburress@sfchronicle.com.

 

 

[jmcquillan]

Berkeley California...the leadership of which has, since he 60's been borderline idiocy...once again allows the public leadership to show true colors. Rather than the Berkeley Scouts seceding from the BSA, perhaps Berkeley itself should secede from all others. It rankles me beyond belief that these idiots who stand against the BSA, and claim that the BSA was their intended target, have not the common decency and sense to separate their political statements and concerns from the children. Apologies not accepted...never.

[eisely]

Berkeley is also known locally among some folks as Berserkly and the Peoples' Republic of Berkeley. Then again, Santa Monica is also sometimes referred to as the Peoples' Republic of Santa Monica. Be all that is it may, one would think that the voters of Berkeley would expect, and be entitled to, more than just a "knew jerk" reaction by any elected representative on any issue. Berkeley does provide some entertainment for the rest of us though. Glad I don't live there.

[eisely]

Apparently the behavior of the Berkeley politicians was even too much for the San Francisco Chronicle. Enough said.

 

Boorish in Berkeley

 

Thursday, August 9, 2001

 

 

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BERKELEY MAYOR Shirley Dean and Councilman Kriss Worthington played right into the hands of those who defend the Boy Scouts' anti-gay policy this week.

 

By canceling a City Hall ceremony with Berkeley-area Scouts and 38 visiting Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts from Japan, Berkeley politicians allowed a just cause -- fighting bigotry -- to be subject to ridicule.

 

The Boy Scouts' national anti-gay discrimination policy is indefensible, but, please, leave these kids out of it. Many Berkeley Scouts have taken a courageous stand opposing the national organization's policy against gays. And the Scouts in Japan do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

 

Local governments and school districts are justified in refusing to provide public facilities to any group that discriminates, including the Boy Scouts. Parents who abhor bigotry may not want to allow their children to join. And many Americans may want to withhold financial support from Boy Scouts of America.

 

Perhaps the strongest message of all was sent by the Berkeley Scouts who stood tall through the taunts from other troops at a recent Jamboree because of their principled stand. They did not deserve a cheap snub when they returned to Berkeley.

 

They deserve merit badges for tolerance.

 

 

[eisely]

Amazingly, this story still has legs. It would appear that the opponents of BSA policy finally figured out a way to get their message across in a less offensive manner. The online story can be found at sfgate.com, including photographs of yesterday's protest event.

 

Fortunately the Japanese scouts found a better way to use their time by going camping.

 

Japanese Scouts get a public apology

U.S. group's policy on gays criticized

 

Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, August 10, 2001

 

 

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Berkeley -- Under pressure after the barring of Berkeley City Hall to visiting Japanese Boy and Girl Scouts, a contrite City Council member Kriss Worthington expanded his apology yesterday to include the people of Japan and condemned the Boy Scouts of America's policy against gays.

 

Worthington joined a Berkeley Eagle Scout and others at a rally on City Hall to say criticism should be directed at the national Boy Scouts, not Berkeley. Worthington and Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean have been deluged with dozens of angry e-mails and phone calls from around the country because Dean, reacting to Worthington's objections about the U.S. Scouts' anti-gay policy, canceled a Monday ceremonial meeting with visiting Scouts from Japan.

 

"To the people of Japan, to the Japanese ambassador, and especially to the Japanese Scouts, I say, 'Gomen nasai,' " Worthington said, using a Japanese expression for "I'm sorry."

 

On Wednesday, he expressed an apology not addressed to anyone in particular.

 

"Instead of attacking Berkeley, . . . concerned citizens should be writing to the BSA (Boy Scouts of America)," said Linda Hodges, a board member of Scouting for All, a Petaluma organization actively involved in a campaign to remove the Scouts' anti-homosexual policy.

 

"It's hard to be David to the mighty Goliath that is the BSA," she said, turning to Worthington.

 

Berkeley Eagle Scout Ryan Georgi said yesterday was the first time he has spoken in public against the national policy. He and fellow Scouts who oppose the policy are "caught in the middle."

 

In Berkeley, the Scouts are attacked for being part of the organization and in the Scouting world outside Berkeley, the troop is attacked for not supporting Scout policy, he said.

 

"There are some of us working inside the organization to bring about the change," said Georgi, who is entering the University of California at Berkeley.

 

A small fraction of Eagle Scouts have returned their badges in protest of the policy, which is supported by a sizable majority of those in Scouting.

 

Worthington, who is gay, objected to the Scouts' meeting with Dean at City Hall because it would have included some Boy Scouts of America, who are hosting the Japanese Scouts. U.S. Girl Scouts, also helping to host the visitors, would have been at the meeting as well. Much of the criticism focused on the exclusion of the Girl Scouts and Japanese Scouts, who have no policy against gays.

 

Saying she wanted to spare the Scouts from embarrassment and possible protest, Dean agreed to meet with them instead at their goodbye "Sayonara" dinner at a private location outside Berkeley tonight. Worthington said he wanted to have flyers distributed at the City Hall meeting and to have it be "an educational experience" on the Boy Scouts' ban on openly gay leaders.

 

The Berkeley-Albany Girl Scout Association yesterday issued a statement of support of Dean "in her upholding of the city of Berkeley's nondiscrimination policy. We understand her decision not to meet with us at the originally scheduled time."

 

The meeting -- at which the Japanese Scouts present a proclamation from the mayor of Berkeley's sister city, Sakai -- is a traditional ceremonial highlight for the Scouts visiting in a biannual exchange program from Berkeley's sister city in Japan. In the past, the ceremony has taken place at the City Halls of each city.

 

Leaders of the Japanese Girl Scouts said they do not wish to comment on the controversy, according to their American hosts. The Japanese Boy Scouts have spent the past two days camping in the Sierra and could not be reached.

 

Council member Dona Spring also attended the rally yesterday, saying the American Medical Association recently took a stand urging youth groups like the Boy Scouts to stop discrimination against gays.

 

She quoted Steve DeToy, a spokesman for the Rhode Island Medical Association, who said that "teens who are discriminated against suffer greater health risks, starting with anxiety and mental health issues and leading to suicide."

 

 

E-mail Charles Burress at cburress@sfchronicle.com.

 

 

[jmcquillan]

I stumbled upon this partial article today at another Scouting Forum. Unfortunately, the links didn't work so I've eliminated them. The paper in which the article was published has a database accessible only via password, so I didn't get the rest of the story:

 

This story was published August 24, 2001 by the Contra Costa Times in California.

HEADLINE: Something constructive can come of Scout episode

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[NOTE: The following editorial was written by Shirley Dean, mayor of Berkeley, California, and involved in the controlversey regarding the snub of the Scouts from Japan]

I sometimes claim I was 7 feet tall before I became mayor of Berkeley but got so short -- under 5 feet -- from everybody beating on me! Nothing brought that home to me more than the recent episode involving the Boy Scouts.

In response, I am determined to carve something constructive out of the embarrassing happenings of last week.

Last week was to be routine, starting with greeting visitors from our sister city, Sakai, Japan. Instead, Berkeley became the center of an international storm of controversy. By now you know the story. Thirty-eight Japanese boy and girl scouts accompanied by American Boy and Girl Scouts who were hosting the visitors were to meet with me in the Civic Center Building. Council member Kriss Worthington challenged the legality of the meeting, my presence as mayor at the meeting, and holding the meeting on public property. Council member Worthington said that because of their discriminatory policy, he didn't want it to appear in any way that the city of Berkeley supported the Boy Scouts, and suggested that I should separate the group and meet only with the girl scouts.

 

 

Now.........it may be that the rest of the story reveals just what is the "constructive" part is...but I don't see it. Do You?

 

 

 

 

[eisely]

The Contra Costa Times is published in Walnut Creek, California by the Knight Ridder chain of newspapers. We actually subscribe to the print edition, although I seldom do more than look at the headlines and the entertainment section. My spouse reads it because she tracks the real estate market. I never saw the piece you refer to.

 

Unfortunately the edition you mention has already gone out with the recycling. If I remember, next week I might go by the public library to check out this back issue.

 

Knight Ridder is also one of those corporations that decided to no longer contribute directly to the Boy Scouts. This policy was announced last summer after the Supreme Court decision.

 

The CC Times runs a "Saturday forum" where a question is posed and letters are invited. Last August a forum was run on this issue. The question was "should businesses contintue to support boy scouts?" A pro scout letter writing campaign was initiated over the internet and, of about 15 letters published in the forum, only 2 or 3 were hostile to scouts. The paper then did a lengthy story on corporate funding and how scouts were affected. I was interviewed for about 30 minutes on the telephone, and quoted several times in the article. I have to give them credit. The story was fair and accurate in all respects except one point. The paper repeated the canard that agnostics are excluded from scouting.

 

Monitoring local media and getting into the fray is something we all must do. This is a battle being fought with ideas, words, and images, not weapons. Be guided by the ideals of the scout law and participate in the debate when it comes your way. I'm serious - there is wisdom there.

 

Being interviewed for the first time on a controversial subject can be intimidating. Just take your time and answer questions slowly. You can't control the interview but you can control the pace of the interview by responding thoughtfully. Think about your answers and don't say anything inflammatory. We have a story to tell and must not shrink from telling it. You will be surprised at your own success.

 

If I find the piece by the mayor of Berkeley, I will post the rest of the story.