News
2006-02-16
Appeals court
considers Boy Scouts' use of public space
An appellate
court panel in Los Angeles is weighing arguments over
whether the Boy Scouts of America, an organization that b
An appellate
court panel in Los Angeles is weighing arguments over
whether the Boy Scouts of America, an organization that bars
gays from membership and compels members to swear an
oath to God, has the right to use city-owned parkland
in San Diego.
George Davidson, an attorney for the Boy Scouts,
told the three-judge panel of the ninth circuit court
of appeals Tuesday that the group has no theology and
only holds the position that children should "do duty to
God" in order to become productive citizens. The
organization has few references to religion in its
manual and has a practice of "punting it back to
parents and religious leaders" when it comes to religious
matters, Davidson argued.
The group received support from the Bush
administration, which in March 2004 filed a
friend-of-the-court brief arguing that even though the
organization believes in God and members take an oath to do
their duty to God, it is not a religious organization.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued San
Diego and the Boy Scouts in August 2000 on behalf of a
lesbian couple and an agnostic couple, each with
scouting-age sons. They filed the lawsuit after the San
Diego city council voted to extend the group's 50-year
lease of Balboa Park camp space for another 25 years.
In July 2003, U.S. district judge Napoleon Jones
Jr. sided with the plaintiffs, ruling that San Diego
acted improperly when it leased 18 acres of camp space
to the Scouts. The judge ruled that the group is a
religious organization and the lease violated federal law
that prohibits the government promotion of religion.
Jones later ruled that the Scouts' lease with the city
for a separate aquatics center at Fiesta Island in
Mission Bay Park was also illegal.
Mark Danis, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told
the appeals panel the Boy Scouts reserves six weeks
for itself on Fiesta Island during the height of
summer and that other groups have "inferior access" to
both sites. "San Diego city land can't be used as the
headquarters of a discriminatory organization," Danis
said outside court. "This organization kicks people
out if they don't believe in God, and our clients are
agnostics; they chose to not believe in God, and they can't
use city land on an equal basis with Boy Scouts."
Jones ruled the city has shown preferential
treatment to the Boy Scouts, "an admittedly religious,
albeit nonsectarian, and discriminatory organization,"
because it negotiated exclusively with the group for
the lease of the aquatics center. The Scouts had leased the
half-acre Fiesta Island property since 1987 at no
charge. The group spent $2 million to build the
aquatics center and provided for its maintenance.
The Boys Scouts has been the target of
preferential-treatment lawsuits since the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled in June 2000 that it has a constitutional
right to exclude openly gay men from serving as troop
leaders and because it compels members to swear an oath of
duty to God.
The appeals panel did not release a decision
Tuesday. Rulings typically aren't announced in such
cases until three to six months following the hearing
of arguments. (AP)
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