Ruling on Scout Leadership Angers Gays; Appeal Vowed

Gay and lesbian community leaders reacted angrily Wednesday to a judge’s ruling this week that allows the Boy Scouts of America to bar a man from becoming a Scout leader because he is gay, and the American Civil Liberties Union vowed an appeal.

“The judge needs an education,” said Adele Starr, the president of the Los Angeles chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. “She doesn’t know what she did. There’s nothing wrong with being gay. There is something wrong with discriminating against gays.”

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Sally G. Disco ruled Tuesday that compelling the Scouts to accept an acknowledged homosexual as a troop leader would violate the organization’s 1st Amendment right to express its belief that homosexuality is immoral.

The case was filed 11 years ago by Timothy Curran, a 29-year-old former Bay Area Eagle Scout who was told he could not head a troop in Northern California because he is gay.

The ACLU will appeal the decision because of the broad issues involved, said Jon Davidson, an ACLU senior staff counsel who represented Curran.

“It’s a frightening decision for the children who are part of the Boy Scouts,” he said. “I think it’s crazy to accept that part of being a Boy Scout is being anti-gay.”

Boy Scout officials praised the judge for allowing them to determine the qualifications of their leaders.

“We’re based on traditional family values,” said Blake Lewis, the national spokesman for the Texas-based organization. “We feel homosexuals do not supply a role model that is consistent with the family values we’ve been based on for 81 years . . . . Scouting has never sought to impose its values across all of society.”

At the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center in Hollywood, Executive Director Torie Osborne called the ruling “homophobia in its purest form” and encouraged those who oppose discrimination to write to the judge, the Boy Scouts and the United Way, which provides funding to Scouting organizations nationwide.

Osborne also said that both the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have many gay members and leaders. The decision essentially forces them to lie about who they are to stay in the organization and thus violate the Boy Scout oath to tell the truth, she said.

Lewis responded that there are no known gays among the 4.3 million Scout members or 1.2 million adult volunteers nationwide.

Silvia Rhue, the assistant director of counseling at the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center, said the decision is based on the unfounded stereotype that children are somehow not safe around gay people.

“It is ridiculous to think that there is any problem because a gay man is in charge of children,” she said.