Boy Scouts

On Feb. 28, more than six months before the Boy Scouts of America fired an exemplary police officer, Chuck Merino, from his job as an adviser to the Explorer Scouts program, I wrote the United Way of San Diego urging them to sever their ties with the Boy Scouts because they discriminated against people based on their sexual orientation.

On March 4, I received a reply from Terry Riggins of the United Way, San Diego County, saying that we (the United Way) “hold strongly to the principles of non-discrimination as defined by federal, state and local law. We require our agencies to not discriminate.” Furthermore, Riggins enclosed a background sheet which suggests that those who are concerned about this issue can designate their contributions directly to Scouts or away from Scouts, depending on their point of view . . . “

Why not list a youth organization of the White Aryan Resistance or the Rev. Louis Farrakhan’s group as possible designees and let your contributors decide if they want their money to go to them? I assume one reason you don’t is because these organizations will readily admit that they do discriminate against segments of our population and this would be in violation of your policies.

It would seem the United Way is talking out of both sides of its mouth. It states that it requires their agencies not to discriminate, yet the Boy Scouts have done so and freely admit it and are still supported.

PAUL HARRIS

San Diego