State Handout for Boy Scouts in Question

Ten years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America had a constitutional right to bar gays and lesbians from serving as troop leaders, gay rights groups in Vermont are fuming that the organization is appropriated a small amount of funding in Gov. James Douglas's fiscal 2011 budget.

Though proposed funding is a mere $7,500, officials at Outright Vermont, a Burlington-based gay rights group, said the governor's appropriation is a slap in the face to the state's LGBT families. "Outright believes that all youth need positive role models and encourages lawmakers not to permit discrimination," the group said in a statement to The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus.

Officials with the Vermont Boy Scouts contend that the money from the state is used to pay for a Veterans Day parade, not for operating expenses.

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