Posted on 12/06/2007 11:04:30 AM PST by yorkie
For three years the Philadelphia council of the Boy Scouts of America held its ground. It resisted the city’s request to change its discriminatory policy toward gay people despite threats that if it did not do so, the city would evict the group from a municipal building where the Scouts have resided practically rent free since 1928.
Hailed as the birthplace of the Boy Scouts, the Beaux Arts building is the seat of the seventh-largest chapter of the organization and the first of the more than 300 council service centers built by the Scouts around the country over the past century.
But over the years the fight between the city and the Scouts was about more than this grandiose structure in Center City.
Municipal officials said the clash stemmed from a duty to defend civil rights and an obligation to abide by a local law that bars taxpayer support for any group that discriminates. Boy Scout officials said it was about preserving their culture, protecting the right of private organizations to remain exclusive and defending traditions like requiring members to swear an oath of duty to God and prohibiting membership by anyone who is openly homosexual.
This week the Boy Scouts made their last stand and lost.
“At the end of the day, you can not be in a city-owned facility being subsidized by the taxpayers and not have language in your lease that talks about nondiscrimination,” said City Councilman Darrell L. Clarke, who represents the district where the building is located. “Negotiations are over.”
Mr. Clarke said talks ended this week when the deadline passed for the local chapter to change its policy; on June 1 the group will be evicted.
“Since we were founded, we believe that open homosexuality would be inconsistent with the values..
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
According to the article, Councilman Darrell L. Clarke has pushed hard for this decision.
Mr. Clarke’s website is:
http:www.darrellclarke5thdistrict.com/ (with a pic and bio)
To contact him:
Email: darrell.clarke@phila.gov
Address: 484 City Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Phone: (215) 686-3442
Fax: (215) 686-1901
I’ll bet he would just love to get some early Valentines from FReepers. ;-)
Here’s another one:
John 15:18-19 (NIV)
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.
19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
I don't think people are doing that here.
It's about having moral standards and sticking to them.
ah... so there's no higher occurrence of pedophiles among homosexual men than among the general population?
Pull the other one and it plays "Jingle Bells".
This means that the city is terminating a lease with no anti-discrimination clause. Are there any other old leases with no anti-discrimination clause? If so, they must also be terminated. Otherwise, we may have a 14th amendment case here.
It would be funny if ACORN or GLAAD were leasing a building under such a lease. To see them evicted would be quite humorous.
“If you’re taking the government’s money, you follow their rules.”
In this case, it’s not quite that simple, the BSA built that building and developed the land at a time in the US where agreements were largely verbal with “..As long as you want to stay here...” as the binding in the agreement.
Now that Philly has decided that the BSA is immoral, and homosexuality is preferred, such quaint agreements become hammers to wield against the BSA.
To which I would say “fine”
If the people of Philly wonder “why” their town is swirling down the toilet, which I doubt they will, they can find the next group to blame.
The BSA will have to realize that their principles are not welcomed in a Philly and make arrangements for different housing and have -0- to do with the Philly Govt.
“The BSA Headquarters should purchase the land from the city”
I doubt if the City Council would agree to selling the land.
Keep a watch out for the classification of Christians/Conservatives as “terrorists” as well.
That was the point of adding the “Hate Crimes” language to the Homeland Security bill.
The goal: Anyone that states that homosexuality is anything less than something to be celebrated has committed a terroristic hate crime.
May the city rot in Hell, oh it already is, wonder why. Gay groups are ok, the Boy Scouts are run out of town. That is evil.
FYI although I am not aware of any strong gay rights movement in Philadelphia, it must be there under the surface. The last time Santorum ran, gay groups forced the owner of a health club to divest himself of his own privately owned company. His crime? He had contributed to the Santorum campaign, whichg was billed as support for Nazism.
No. Here's their next move: Stop all scout activities in the Cradle of Liberty Council.
That's 12 Districts, 1,000 units and 69,000 youth- "One of the largest Councils in the nation."
Let the politicians and queers be warned: The Scouts don't tolerate their lifestyles or activities!
A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent. No where in the Scout Law does it say that we fold to the dictates of sin or sinners.
The Scouts ought to sue for value it would take to construct the building...
Hey Boy Scouts - - run, don’t walk, away from that sick toilet known as Philadelphia.
Get away as fast as you can.
I am surprised that the Scouts did not write the contact in such a way to avoid this duplicity.
Exactly!
You don't get it. The Boy Scouts built the building they were using in exchange for perpetual $1 rent. So, if the city is going to renege on that agreement, they should be forced to compensate the Boy Scouts for the value of the building.
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