[Professor Kill]

The Boy Scouts are not engaging in "discrimination." They are exercising their First Amendment "freedom of association" as recognized by the Supreme Court in Dale v. Boy Scouts.

I believe you're being somewhat disingenuous with that argument. Of course the Boy Scouts are "discriminating" by excluding homosexuals. Dale simply ruled that the First Amendment protected the right of the Boy Scouts to engage in that particular form of discrimination. Nothing in this decision is inconsistent with that ruling: the Boy Scouts have the freedom to associate, but the state is under no obligation to grant them preferred status if they engage in certain types of discrimination.

The Boy Scouts made their bed when they decided to fight this battle, and now they have to lie in it.

[Congressman Billybob]

You miss the point that it is unconstitutional for any local or state government to condition receipt of public benefits on the required abandonment of an established constitutional right. That is exactly what the Berkeley Marina did to the Scouts.

It is unfortunate that the record on appeal did not put the question squarely on the necessary facts so the Court would be compelled to take the case.

John / Billybob