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BOY SCOUTS EXCLUDE GAYS & TOP US COURT AGREES!
Gay Free Boy Scouts (streaming version to share with friends and social networks)Keeler in the Morning Interview with Ray about the songGay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
When Eagle Scout James Dale got a letter throwing him out of the Boy Scouts for
being gay, he went for help to Lambda Legal, a national organization committed
to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men,
bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation,
education and public policy work. It took his case and won in the NJ Supreme
Court, but got defeated when the Boy Scouts of America appealed to the US
Supreme Court (the same folks who ruled Bush beat Gore in the election). I only
met James once when I sang the song at a fund-raising event in
The Boy Scouts of America council is considering allowing its member organizations to allow gays to participate. Join with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance (above) to support this idea! These are some of the portions of the US Supreme Court opinion about how being gay relates to being morally straight and clean. The Court takes the position that it is protecting the Boy Scouts’ free speech rights by allowing them to ban gay people: The Boy Scouts asserts that
homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the values embodied in the Scout Oath
and Law, particularly with the values represented by the terms “morally
straight” and “clean.” Obviously, the Scout Oath and
Law do not expressly mention sexuality or sexual orientation. See supra,
at 6—7. And the terms “morally straight” and “clean” are by no means
self-defining. Different people would attribute to those terms very different
meanings. For example, some people may believe that engaging in homosexual
conduct is not at odds with being “morally straight” and “clean.” And others may
believe that engaging in homosexual conduct is contrary to being “morally
straight” and “clean.” The Boy Scouts says it falls within the latter
category.... A position statement
promulgated by the Boy Scouts in 1991 (after Dale’s membership was revoked but
before this litigation was filed) also supports its current view: “We believe that homosexual
conduct is inconsistent with the requirement in the Scout Oath that a Scout be
morally straight and in the Scout Law that a Scout be clean in word and deed,
and that homosexuals do not provide a desirable role model for Scouts.” Dale was the copresident of a gay and lesbian organization at college and remains a gay rights activist. Dale’s presence in the Boy Scouts would, at the very least, force the organization to send a message, both to the youth members and the world, that the Boy Scouts accepts homosexual conduct as a legitimate form of behavior.
Here is one of the places you can find the full text on the web:
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