Hunter Asks Navy to Help Scouts

U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter on Monday wrote a letter to Navy Secretary Sean O’Keefe, asking him to give access to military facilities to the Boy Scouts of America.

Hunter (R-San Diego) said he wrote the letter in reaction to a resolution adopted by a San Diego city commission last week that condemned the Scouts for its policy prohibiting homosexuals from being Scout leaders.

The measure, adopted by the San Diego Human Relations Commission on an 11-2 vote, urges the City Council to end all contractual relationships with the Scouting group.

The Boy Scouts lease city land for a campground as well as offices used for the organization’s local headquarters, and also hold events at a city aquatic center.

“As intimidated politicians attack the Scouts and take their facilities away from them, it is important that American institutions, including our Department of Defense, come to the rescue of the Scouts,” Hunter wrote.

The letter asks O’Keefe to meet with Hunter and national Scout leaders to discuss the possibility of allowing the Scouts to use Navy and Marine facilities in San Diego. The Department of Defense bans homosexuals from military service.

The local uproar over the Scouts anti-homosexual policy came when El Cajon Police Officer Chuck Merino was ousted from an Explorer program in August. Merino had publicly acknowledged his homosexuality.

A legal opinion by San Diego Deputy City Atty. Sharon A. Marshall concluded the Scouts violated the city’s human dignity ordinance in dismissing Merino. The 1990 ordinance prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. Mayor Maureen O’Connor said she supports the measure, but would oppose any effort to break any Boy Scout leases involving city property.

San Diego Police Chief Bob Burgreen announced last week that his department was severing ties with the Boy Scouts after nearly 30 years. El Cajon Police Chief Jack Smith also said his department was ending its three-year association with the Scouts.