Philadelphia Scouts May Losa Headquarters

[SSScout]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/02/AR2007120201896.html?sub=AR

 

 

 

 

In Pa., Scouts Refuse to Lift Ban

Chapter to Ignore City's Order to Alter Policy Excluding Gays

 

By Dafna Linzer

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, December 3, 2007; Page A03

 

The Boy Scouts in Philadelphia are refusing to break camp.

 

The city has given the local chapter until today to renounce its policy of excluding gays or forfeit the lease on the grand, Beaux-Arts building it has rented from the city for $1 a year since 1928.

 

 

 

By refusing the city order, the Boy Scouts in Philadelphia face losing their headquarters by June 1, or else must pay market value for the property. (By Michael Perez -- Philadelphia Inquirer)

 

"We're ignoring the deadline," said Mark Chilutti, a member of the Cradle of Liberty Council executive board, which operates the local Scouts chapter. "It was the least bad option we have."

 

The decision is likely to intensify a four-year standoff with city officials who have been trying to enforce a 1982 "fair practices" law that bans municipal subsidies for organizations that discriminate.

 

The city solicitor, Romulo L. Diaz Jr., had given the chapter until today to change its policies. If the Scouts refuse to do so, they will have to leave their historic headquarters by June 1 or pay market value for the property, which the city has placed at $200,000 a year. Diaz said in a recent interview that he would begin looking for a new tenant for the 100-year-old building tomorrow.

 

The confrontation between the city and the nation's third-largest Scouts chapter began in May 2003 when the national Boy Scouts held their annual meeting in Philadelphia. During the conference, a local Scout challenged the organization's policies by announcing on television that he was gay and a devoted member of the organization. He was promptly dismissed by the council.

 

When the city responded by threatening to evict the chapter, local Boy Scout officials considered breaking with the national policy. But they were soon facing the prospect of another eviction, this time from the national Boy Scouts, who said Cradle of Liberty would lose its charter if it opened its ranks to gays.

 

"We are a franchisee of the national council," Chilutti said. "If we were a McDonald's franchisee, we couldn't sell Whoppers, even if we thought it was a better product."

 

The Supreme Court ruled seven years ago that the Boy Scouts of America, as a private organization, has the right to exclude gays from its ranks. The Boy Scouts also prohibit atheists and agnostics from employment on the grounds that such beliefs are inconsistent with the values of the country's largest youth organization. Two years ago, Congress passed the Support Our Scouts Act to protect chapters from local government attempts to strip them of access to public facilities in response to the anti-gay policy.

 

 

The Cradle of Liberty Council tried to satisfy the city and the national organization by issuing a four-line statement that concluded: "Prejudice, intolerance and unlawful discrimination in any form are unacceptable within the ranks of Cradle of Liberty Council."

 

But gay rights groups worried that "unlawful discrimination" gave the chapter cover to continue anti-gay hiring practices.

 

Jeff Jubelirer, a spokesman for Cradle of Liberty, said the chapter has not faced any discrimination charges in recent years and has since adopted an informal "don't ask, don't tell" policy for its support staff. But potential scout leaders must affirm that they are not gay.

 

Cradle of Liberty says it serves more than 64,000 youths, mostly from the inner city, and that, as a result, its programming is centered on mentoring and after-school programs instead of suburban camping trips. It also hosts the oldest scouting event in the country, a three-day annual encampment at Valley Forge to commemorate the harsh winter that George Washington spent there with Continental Army soldiers.

 

Chilutti said the Scouts are still weighing their options and are looking forward to reopening the issue in January when incoming mayor Michael Nutter is sworn in.

 

"This is a city with a very high homicide rate and many other problems. I doubt the mayor's first priority is going to be to evict the Boy Scouts," Chilutti said.

(This message has been edited by SSScout)(This message has been edited by SSScout)

[evmori]

But gay rights groups worried that "unlawful discrimination" gave the chapter cover to continue anti-gay hiring practices.

 

Actually, the BSA legally discriminates.

 

The BSA should get someone to buy the building then rent it back to them for $1.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

A blessed Christmas to all

[scoutldr]

I don't think the building is for sale. That would be too easy.

[Maethros]

http://www.cultureandmediainstitute.org/articles/2007/20071120152550.aspx

 

"Here are a few things the Post story left out:

 

The architect of the harassment against the Scouts, City Solicitor Diaz, is openly homosexual, as has been reported in the Philadelphia press.

The Scouts built the building with their own money, and then gave it to the city in 1928.

The Scouts had a lease in perpetuity with the city, an agreement the City Council broke.

The Scouts bar openly homosexual Scoutmasters and members for moral reasons and for the sake of protecting young boys from possible harm, not because they are motivated by bigotry or prejudice. The Post article read as if the Scouts have no rational reason for wanting to determine whether prospective leaders or members are attracted sexually to males.

The national Boy Scouts of America organization gets no ink to defend itself. Cradle of Liberty spokesman Jeff Jubelirer told the Post that the local chapter was trying its best in 2003 to cave in, with a statement saying that prejudice, intolerance and unlawful discrimination in any form are unacceptable within the ranks of Cradle of Liberty Council."

 

 

 

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

The city council didn't break the lease agreement, the lease has always had a one-year cancellation clause. And the reason the BSA gave the building to the city was because those were the terms that allowed the BSA to erect a building on public property in the first place.

[Oak Tree]

"But potential scout leaders must affirm that they are not gay."

 

Anyone remember doing this? I don't.

[scoutingagain]

From the adult leadership application, " I agree to comply with the Charter and Bylaws, and the Rules and Regulations of the Boy Scouts of America and the local council."

 

When you sign the application you agree to the above, even the bylaws, rules and regulations you don't have access to.

 

SA

[GernBlansten]

Its kinda like double secret probation.

[packsaddle]

If BSA invested so heavily in the building, if they built the building, why did they donate it to the city in 1928? What was the advantage of doing this? I don't 'get' it.

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

That seems to have been part of the original deal to allow them to build on public property - the building immediately became property of the city, and the $1/year lease started.

[Gonzo1]

When signing the application, the applicant could ask "what does this mean?" and someone could explain it or give the applicant a copy or refer the........., C'mon, that's where someone says that applicant agrees to the rules, G2SS, etc. and that the applicant believes in God is straight and so on.

 

[evmori]

The city council didn't break the lease agreement, the lease has always had a one-year cancellation clause. And the reason the BSA gave the building to the city was because those were the terms that allowed the BSA to erect a building on public property in the first place.

 

Anything else in that post that isn't accurate, Merlyn?

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

A blessed Christmas to all

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Ed, the lease has always had a one-year cancellation clause. The city could have cancelled the lease after one year instead of 80. And the only reason the city council cancelled it was because the BSA insists on being a private, discriminatory organization and the city council refuses to support what the BSA has become. Feel free to point out any "inaccuracies", but back up what you say.

[evmori]

Merlyn,

I was only asking if you thought there were any other inaccuracies in the post. Apparently you don't.

 

So I guess it's OK for the city to kick out the very group that built & maintained the building for all these years. Now it becomes a tax burden to the residents and the responsibility of the city to maintain it.

 

Yup Philly did the smart thing.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

A blessed Christmas to all

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

You haven't pointed out any inaccuracies yet, Ed, so how could there be "others"?

 

And yes, Ed, the city council has the authority to end the lease. And assuming they get someone who'll pay the $200,000/year rate, it won't be a tax burden, it'll be an asset.