Anti-Gay Stance Affecting Donations to Boy Scouts

Companies that donate to the Boy Scouts of America are in a quandary: Their employment policies contradict the Boy Scouts’ court-upheld right to ban gay troop members.

The stance already has cost the Scouts financial support from such companies as Levi Strauss & Co. and Wells Fargo. Others, concerned about hurting the beneficiaries of such funding--the boys themselves--are weighing their options.

A June 28 Supreme Court ruling allowed the Scouts to retain membership and leadership criteria that exclude avowed homosexuals. Afterward, the Scouts reaffirmed the right “to ask all of our members to do their best to live the Scout Oath and Law,” which include pledges to revere God and be “morally straight.”

Providence, R.I.-based manufacturing giant Textron has decided not to give to an annual dinner for the Scouts, although it gave $3,000 last year, spokeswoman Sue Bishop said. “We made the decision in April--before the Supreme Court decision,” she said Thursday.

Chase Manhattan Corp. is considering revoking its contributions. “On the face of it, some issues appear to be in conflict with our commitment to diversity,” spokesman Jim Finn said.

Merrill Lynch & Co., which gives between $100,000 and $150,000 a year, is “actively reviewing” its relationship with the Scouts, spokesman Joe Cohen said. And media company Knight Ridder has asked that funds it gives to the United Way not be directed to the Boy Scouts.

In 1999, the National Council of Boy Scouts, the organization that administers separately incorporated troops, received about $11 million in charitable contributions.

Gregg Shields, a spokesman for the national council in Irving, Texas, said he cannot predict the effect of corporate withdrawals but that funding has remained stable.

“What really makes scouting work is the Scout leader and the volunteer--but that’s not to diminish the financial contributions that companies make,” Shields said.