Scout Officials Support Court Decision on Gays

Ventura County Boy Scout officials praised the Supreme Court’s ruling Wednesday that excludes homosexuals as troop leaders, while Ventura County gay and lesbian activists criticized the decision.

Scouting supporters said this lets them continue selecting leaders who represent the Boy Scouts’ morally conservative values, but gay and lesbian leaders called the ruling discriminatory and prejudicial.

Ending years of court battles, the justices ruled that the Boy Scouts is a private group, and that forcing the organization to accept gay leaders would violate its right of free association.

The 5-4 ruling reversed a New Jersey Supreme Court decision that the Boy Scouts was a type of public business and therefore could not discriminate against troop leaders based on their sexual orientation. James Dale, an assistant Scout master in that state, was ousted from his position when the organization learned he was gay.

The high court ruling will not have a direct effect in California. The state courts have previously ruled that the Boy Scouts is a social organization, not a business, and therefore is exempt from anti-bias laws.

In Ventura County, there are about 8,200 youths and about half as many adults involved in Boy Scouts. As many as three-quarters of the troops are chartered by local churches, with the rest being sponsored by fraternal organizations, such as Lions or Rotary clubs, officials said.

Local Scouting officials said there haven’t been any controversies regarding the sexual orientation of Ventura County’s troop leaders, but that a few families have withdrawn their children based on the national group’s restrictive membership policies.

Edie Brown, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Ventura, said prohibiting homosexual troop leaders perpetuates an invalid stereotype that all gay men are pedophiles.

“I think our Supreme Court justices need to come into the 21st century,” Brown said.

Any gay or lesbian adult who wants to be a Scout leader and wants to mentor youths should be welcomed, she said.

“Their sexuality has nothing to do with their ability to lead that Scout troop,” Brown said.

Wednesday’s decision may also pave the way for the Boy Scouts to ban gay boys from being Scout members, attorneys said. Such a move could push more and more gay youths toward substance abuse and suicide, Brown said.

Paul Waters, executive director of Simi Valley Pride, which organizes an annual lesbian and gay awareness festival in the city, said he and his partner were both Boy Scouts as kids. He thinks there are currently several gay members in Scouting troops across Ventura County.

“The Boy Scouts’ sending this message that being gay is bad only adds to the burden that these poor kids are going to have to deal with,” he said.

Gay youths, Waters said, need role models to guide them during a difficult adolescence. They don’t need to be told that they aren’t worthy of being in a group with their peers, he said.

Local Boy Scout leaders said they were delighted that the justices ruled in their favor. They said homosexuality conflicts with the basic teaching of the Scouts. Both members and their adult leaders are supposed to abide by the Scout oath, which pledges a duty to God and a promise to stay “morally straight.”

“We don’t have a thing against gays and lesbians at all, as individuals,” said Bill Belcher, the county’s assistant Scout executive. “We believe in that 100%. But we also believe that in a male youth organization, they don’t set the role model we want to set for our young men.”

But Allen Smith, president of the Scouts’ Ventura County Council, said he supports a “don’t ask-don’t tell” policy. He doesn’t mind if there are gay troop leaders, as long as they don’t openly speak against Scouting values or discuss their sexual orientation with the boys.

Smith added that all private organizations should have the right to decide their criteria for leadership.

* MAIN STORY

The Supreme Court ended its term on a bitter note. A1