On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court
refused to hear an appeal from the Boy Scouts of America after a federal court
ruled last year that the State of Connecticut can exclude the Scouts from its
state employee charitable campaign. As a result, Connecticut will continue to
discriminate against the Boy Scouts because the Scouts' policy excluding
homosexuals doesn't match Connecticut's "anti-discrimination
code."
Of note, organizations that have declared war on Boy Scouting principles - ACLU,
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Public Citizen, Greenpeace, the
National Abortion Rights Action League, and the National Organization for Women
- continue to receive thousands of dollars each year from the Connecticut State
Employees' Campaign for Charitable Giving. And even though the state has
enthusiastically defended its removal of the Boy Scouts from the state employee
charitable list, it gives prominent place to homosexual front groups like the
Hartford Gay/Lesbian Health Collective and Parents and Friends of Lesbians and
Gays.
In refusing to challenge the State of Connecticut's discriminatory
"anti-discrimination" policy, the Supreme Court has set itself against
the autonomy of groups like the American Legion and Campus Crusade for Christ
who filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the Scouts in the
case.
It was in 2000 that the Supreme Court held by a vote of 5 to 4 in the case of
Boy Scouts of America v. Dale that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
protects the right of free association for the Boy Scouts. And that goes for the
ACLU as well as the Scouts, for the College Republicans as well as the College
Democrats, for the Catholic Church as well as the Presbyterian Church or the
Jewish synagogue. Private organizations can choose their own members because
that's what makes organizations unique.
Private organizations must balance between inclusion and exclusion, and when, in
the case of the Boy Scouts, membership requires uncompromising moral duty,
exclusion is vital to the organization's mission. The Boy Scouts bar homosexuals
and atheists from membership and leadership because homosexuality and atheism
are in direct contradiction to the principles of Scouting.
Of course, government can reasonably restrict the activities of organizations
that harm people or discriminate against individuals on the basis of factors
like race and national origin. But the Boy Scouts excludes on the basis of
character, which is all the more reason to support the Scouts rather than
condemn them.
Congress first approved a national charter - an honorary piece of paper stating
that Congress supports the patriotic, educational, or scientific goals of an
organization and that the organization that holds the charter is guaranteed
rights to its name in perpetuity - for the Boy
Scouts of America in 1916. Congress did this in full recognition of the Scouts'
right to discriminate.
Other organizations with discriminatory membership standards have unquestioned
Congressional charters. It is the policy of one charter holder, the Catholic War
Veterans, that "an applicant shall be a member of the Catholic Church"
in addition to having served in the armed forces. Another chartered group, the
Jewish War Veterans, requires its members to
be Jewish. And the Veterans of Foreign Wars includes only veterans who
participated in military campaigns and battles. "The fundamental difference
between our Organization and other veteran organizations, and one in which we
take great pride, is our eligibility qualifications," says the VFW
Eligibility Requirements.
If the Connecticut State Employees' Campaign for Charitable Giving can deliver
funding to the nation's most radical Leftist organizations, surely it can do the
same for a decent organization like the Boy Scouts of America. The Supreme Court
has refused to act in this matter, so it's up to state employees and citizens in
Connecticut to get the point across to state officials now.
Citizens of Connecticut can email CSEC Director Jan Gwudz at [email protected]
or call her at (860)571-7553.
Ms. Gwudz needs to know that the Boy Scouts isn't a militant hate group whose
purpose is to wage war against homosexuals and atheists. The Scouts teach
respect and compassion. They also teach a code of behavior on the basis of a
Scout's honor. To compromise on that properly discriminatory code for the sake
of Connecticut's unjustly discriminatory "anti-discrimination code"
would be to destroy everything for which the Boy Scouts of America has stood for
94 years.
Hans Zeiger, 19, is an Eagle
Scout and president of the Scout Honor Coalition. A columnist and student at
Hillsdale College, his commentary was recently featured
on the Rush Limbaugh Show. Contact: [email protected]
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