California Senate scolds Boy Scouts

Worldnetdaily ^ | 09/02/03 | Staff Writer

[heleny]

Here is the Roseville Press-Tribune article that this WND article cites

State Senate condemns Boy Scouts’ stance on gays
Resolution urges change in group’s policy of exclusion

By Jason Probst

Friday, August 29, 2003


The state senate voted 22-15 Monday in favor of a resolution critical of the Boy Scouts of America for not accepting gays and atheists as members.

Sponsored by Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles), Assembly Concurrent Resolution 89 praises the Boy Scouts for their service and role in helping youth, but the end of the bill asks that the organization to allow all qualified applicants to join the organization “without discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or religious belief.”

With the Supreme Court ruling 5-4 in 2000 upholding the Scouts’ decision to bar gay troop leaders, the organization has largely retained the right to enforce its oath and its own guidelines for membership.

But the resolution passed Monday is an effort that Goldberg hopes will induce the organization to change its membership rules. Pressure from gay rights supporters and groups has impacted funding for the Boy Scouts as part of the campaign, as major donors like United Way have pulled financial support because of the Scouts’ unwillingness to change their policy. The resolution passed the Assembly in April by a vote of 43-2.

Goldberg is upbeat about her resolution passing the Senate floor, with a vote split down party lines. She says a necessary first step toward “getting the Boy Scouts into the 21st Century.”

“I think it’s important for the state of California to speak up and not be silent, and to say to the Scouts, if you have a religious belief, that’s your belief. But keep it separate from a youth-serving agency that serves kids in all neighborhoods,” Goldberg said. “I hope we put pressure on them to make this open to all kids. Anybody who knows me and my family knows we love scouting. This is out of concern for (Scouts).”

Goldberg says that she knows many scouts, including Eagle Scouts, who have quit the organization because they don’t agree with the policy.

But State Sen. Rico Oller is upset with what he sees as an attack on a private organization, in a manner which is one form of discrimination replacing another.

“Our moral values in Boy Scouts are being treated as if they were inferior values,” Oller said. “Gay and lesbian groups are saying that we, with traditional Christian values, have to accept people who are avowedly opposed to those views. The Boy Scouts should be able to be the Boy Scouts, an organization based on faith, God and duty. You can’t have it both ways.”

The Boy Scouts are a private, non-profit organization, and includes support from the Mormon and Lutheran churches. Goldberg says the issue of whether or not Scouts were even gay never even came up until the last 10 years, which is why she is seeking to protect those who may be barred.

“They ask in lots of places. They tell them in some places that you cannot be a Boy Scout if you’re gay,” Goldberg said. “There are a lot of kids who are not going to pretend they are not gay anymore.”

Attempts to contact the Boy Scouts’ local and regional offices were unsuccessful. However the organization has gone on record as stating it hopes to move on from the issue and put it behind them. Though the United Way and other organizations have pulled funding for the Scouts, the group moves on, finding other donors in many instances sympathetic to a group that is caught in the crossfire of a contentious issue.

And Oller believes the issue is really about something else.

“This is about hate on the part of the radical gay and lesbian community, on organizations that are founded on more traditional values,” he said.

[Mat_Helm]

I believe the Almighty can limit the destruction to the Bay Area up the delta to Sacramento and also include the Los Angeles Basin. Maybe an asteroid strike off the coast to take out coastal areas and protect the central and northern areas of the state and than trigger a 9.0 earthquake to finish off Los Angeles. Soddom and Gamorah were wipred out without taking out all of Caanon or Egypt or Syria.

[onedoug]

Communism.

[eddie willers]

Voters with half a brain would recall these guys on the spot.

When you read about the Democrats whining that Max Cleland (of Georgia) was defeated because of a "Mean-Spirited" attack of a "War Hero" and linking him to Osama, dont't you believe it.

Near the end of the Senate campaign, it was brought out that Cleland voted gainst the Boy Scouts.

People's eyebrows went up and said, "HE VOTED AGAINST THE BOY SCOUTS?!.....

and that was that.

[My2Cents]

All I can say is that if 99% of the California State Senate ends up lost in the Sierra-Nevadas, they'd do well to pray that they're found by an Eagle Scout.

[My2Cents]

Take your "resolution" and stuff it where the sun don't shine.

That would be Seattle, Washington.

[heleny]

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 89 praises the Boy Scouts for their service and role in helping youth, but the end of the bill asks that the organization to allow all qualified applicants to join the organization “without discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or religious belief.”

Perhaps it is either because the bill praises the Boy Scouts or, more likely, to refuse to dignify this bill with a vote that most of the Assembly Republicans abstained. There was no way that they could defeat this measure, given that the majority Democrats vote in lock-step with the homosexuals. (Despite having 32 Republican Assemblymen, only two Assemblymen voted against this bill)

[Ohioan]

The legislation was sponsored by Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, herself a lesbian.

And I suspect that the California media does not even appreciate the logical absurdity of all of this.

For our earlier effort to put this vicious attack upon basic American decency into perspective, see The Boy Scouts of America & A Leftwing Agenda.

William Flax

[friendly]

So the Californicate mega-rat "Senate" wants NAMBLA in charge of the Boy Scouts? How low can these incompetent socialists throw their obsequious loathsome selves? Not to mention the fact that the rat shysters will sue the Boy Scouts out of existence for the inevitable child abuse when the democrat pedophiles rape the young Tenderfoots.

[StriperSniper]

And 99% of Californians would do well if they were found by buzzards.

[Redwood71]

And to think that trying to keep homosexuals from possibly preaching or setting an example for young boys who do not have an ability to understand it, would be something "for the children," wouldn't it?

[Nachum]

Thanks for the links. Maybe it might be a good idea to put out a call for Freeper pledges to their local Boy Scout troup too.

[mtbopfuyn]

But see, there's that United Way thing again. If the BSA had not been greedy and kept their monies to themselves instead of getting on the big charity lists then they wouldn't have this problem. There's no need for the United Way the way it's being run now days. Do away with the middle man and donate directly to the charity of your choice.

[heleny]

The Assembly votes: source
Republicans in plainface, Democrats in italics

        VOTES - ROLL CALL
MEASURE:        ACR 89
AUTHOR: Goldberg
TOPIC:  Boy Scouts of America.
DATE:   04/24/2003
LOCATION:       ASM. FLOOR
MOTION: ACR 89 Goldberg  Assembly Third Reading
        (AYES  43. NOES   2.)  (PASS)


        AYES
        ****

Berg    Bermudez        Calderon        Canciamilla
Chan    Chavez  Chu     Cohn
Corbett Dutra   Dymally Firebaugh
Frommer Goldberg        Hancock Jerome Horton
Jackson Kehoe   Koretz  Laird
Leno    Levine  Lieber  Liu
Longville       Lowenthal       Matthews        Montanez
Mullin  Nakano  Nation  Negrete McLeod
Nunez   Oropeza Pavley  Ridley-Thomas
Salinas Steinberg       Vargas  Wiggins
Wolk    Yee     Wesson


        NOES 
        ****

Keene   Leslie


        ABSENT, ABSTAINING, OR NOT VOTING 
        *********************************

Aghazarian      Bates   Benoit  Bogh
Campbell        Cogdill Correa  Cox
Daucher Diaz    Dutton  Garcia
Harman  Haynes  Shirley Horton  Houston
La Malfa        La Suer Maddox  Maldonado
Maze    McCarthy        Mountjoy        Nakanishi
Pacheco Parra   Plescia Reyes
Richman Runner  Samuelian       Simitian
Spitzer Strickland      Wyland

[My2Cents]

99% of Californians would do well if they were found by buzzards.

I'll second that, provided I get to be one of the surviving 1%. ;-)

[King Prout]

since when is the BSA a youth-serving "agency"???
"agency" implicitly defines an organization as an AGENT of some larger or broader or more powerful entity.
are the Kalipornocrats trying to make it seem, through the usual deliberately sloppy language, that the BSA is an organ of the res publica, and thus subject to constitutional limitations?

[Mears]

If they have lost funding because of their stand on the gay issue,I will put them on my charity list.

I'm certainly not a big donor but if enough people support them they won't miss the donations that have been witheld.

[heleny]

The Senate votes, too

        VOTES - ROLL CALL
MEASURE:        ACR 89
AUTHOR: Goldberg
TOPIC:  Boy Scouts of America.
DATE:   08/25/2003
LOCATION:       SEN. FLOOR
MOTION: Assembly 3rd Reading ACR89 Goldberg By Kuehl
        (AYES  22. NOES  15.)  (PASS)


        AYES
        ****

Alarcon Bowen   Burton  Cedillo
Chesbro Ducheny Dunn    Escutia
Figueroa        Karnette        Kuehl   Machado
Murray  Ortiz   Perata  Romero
Scott   Sher    Soto    Speier
Torlakson       Vasconcellos


        NOES
        ****

Aanestad        Ackerman        Ashburn Battin
Brulte  Denham  Hollingsworth   Johnson
Knight  Margett McClintock      McPherson
Morrow  Oller   Poochigian


        ABSENT, ABSTAINING, OR NOT VOTING
        *********************************

[three Democrats not listed: Alpert, Florez, Vincent]

[StriperSniper]

Sorry about that! You know I was talking about the politicians. ;-)

[RonF]

the innumerable boys and men such as James Dale who, regardless of their hard work and merits, are denied the opportunity to hold the rank of Eagle Scout or participate in any way in the Boy Scouts of America;

Last time I checked, James Dale is still an Eagle Scout. Once you have earned the rank, you've got to do something pretty infamous for the BSA to revoke it.