Philadelphia Boy Scouts defies antigay national policy

The nation's third largest Boy Scout council has expanded its nondiscrimination policy to include sexual orientation, defying the national group's antigay policy. The board of the Cradle of Liberty Council, which has 87,000 members in Philadelphia and two neighboring counties, voted unanimously this month to make the change after discussions with gay activists and other community leaders that began two years ago. "We disagree with the national stance, and we're not comfortable with the stated national policy," council chairman David H. Lipson Jr. said. In 2000 the national group went to the Supreme Court to defend its ban on gay leaders, saying that as a private organization it is free to choose its members however it wishes. The Scouts won the case, but the battle led some businesses and public schools to reconsider their ties with the organization, and at least 50 United Way offices pulled their contributions. A few months after the high-court victory, gay activists and others objected to funding by the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania for a youth development program run by the Boy Scouts, even though the program was open to anyone. "The reality is, we did get some pressure from other groups who said, 'This program may not discriminate, but this organization does,"' said Christine James-Brown, president of the regional United Way. In July 2001 the Boston Minuteman Council approved a bylaw that effectively allows membership to gays who don't disclose their sexual orientation.