Boy Scout policy on gays faces backlash

Saturday, Jan. 6, 2001 | 2:57 a.m.

Bob Fulkerson speaks glowingly of his years as a Boy Scout in Reno: the neat things he learned and the character-building that made him the upstanding citizen he is today.

"It's a wonderful experience -- I know of no program that teaches leadership development better than the Boy Scouts," Fulkerson, 40, said. "I learned how to survive in the wilderness and how to start a fire three ways without matches.

"Every boy should have the chance to be a Scout."

Today Fulkerson laments that he cannot be a Scout leader and pass on his wealth of knowledge.

Fulkerson is gay. He says he was a repressed homosexual when he was a teenager in the Scouts, which he eventually left of his own free will in his late teens.

Had his secret been learned, Fulkerson would have been kicked out of the organization because of its anti-gay policy that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in June. The court ruled the Boy Scouts of America can exclude whomever it wants because it's a private organization.

"I always knew I was gay, although at the time I was in the Boy Scouts I fought it," said Fulkerson, president of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, a civil rights organization. "That I cannot be a troop leader is incredibly sad. It makes me want to cry because I have so much to offer."

Many believe that homosexual Scout leaders would press their beliefs on impressionable youths or outright molest Scouts. Fulkerson counters with studies that show the majority of child molesters are straight, not gay. He says there isn't a sensible reason why homosexuals should be excluded from Scouting.

Apparently others agree. The Supreme Court ruling has led to a financial backlash against the organization nationwide. Two dozen United Ways, as well as businesses and government entities, are withholding funds over what is perceived as a discriminatory policy.

No such action has been taken against the local Boulder Dam Area Council. The United Way of Southern Nevada and the Clark County School District, among others, are taking a wait-and-see approach, noting that there have been no incidents of gay Scouts or gay troop leaders being tossed out by the local organization.

"Personally, I do not agree with the national policy, but that doesn't detract from the good work the organization does in this community," said Garth Winckler, longtime president of the local United Way, which funds more than 60 agencies and 144 programs.

Winckler said that while his organization provides 14 percent of the local Boy Scout budget, the United Way also funds agencies that work closely with the gay community, such as Aid for AIDS of Nevada.

The Boy Scouts come up for funding this year and could face questions from United Way board members about its national policy.

Nationwide, several United Ways pulled funding while others vowed to continue helping the Scouts. United Ways are not chapters, but rather individual, autonomous umbrella funding agencies.

For example, the Essex/West Hudson, N.J., United Way pulled funding for the Scouts, but the Bergen County, N.J., United Way opted to continue aiding the group. While the Allegan County United Way in Holland, Mich., pulled funding for the Gerald R. Ford BSA Council, no other United Way in western Michigan has followed suit.

"In November 1999 we sent letters to agencies informing them of a comprehensive nondiscriminatory policy that we were adopting and got no opposition to it," said Carol Visser, Allegan County United Way spokeswoman, noting that the Boy Scouts sought an exemption after the Supreme Court ruling.

"Having a comprehensive nondiscrimination policy is just a good business practice -- it looks after all interests and makes the United Way more accountable to donors. What has happened so far is just the tip of the iceberg. United Ways nationwide will have to decide one way or another on this issue."

Ron Garland, Boulder Dam Area Council executive director, says he is not worried about the recent actions by United Ways elsewhere. His council has 26,500 Scouts and 8,000 adult supervisors -- the 37th largest in the nation.

"I do not believe that 24 agencies out of 1,400 represents a trend," Garland said. "I believe we have the public's support for the values we teach and the programs we run in the community."

Garland said the good deeds that the Boy Scouts do in Las Vegas -- such as the annual food drive that in November collected 125 tons of canned goods and the Learning for Life program that reaches kids in disadvantaged neighborhoods -- are predicated on the funding and support it receives from United Way and others.

But it is not just United Ways that have taken action.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla., voted in November to halt all grants to the Boy Scouts, costing the organization more than $500,000 in annual funds. Major companies such as Chase Manhattan Bank have dropped the Boy Scouts from favored charity lists.

In December the Los Angeles Unified School District began the process to limit Boy Scout activity on campuses -- such as recruiting -- and to require troops that use school facilities to sign statements renouncing the national anti-gay policy.

Clark County School District spokeswoman Mary Stanley-Larsen says she knows of no local board member who is considering similar action.

"We are well aware of what is going on nationally, but we are not aware of any local actions of discrimination," Stanley-Larsen said, noting that 98 local schools during the 1999-2000 school year were used for Boy Scout activities.

"The district has a facilities-use policy that the principals use (to determine which groups they will allow to use facilities)."

Scout supporters say it is wrong for the United Way and others to pressure the 92-year-old organization to change its code, which requires members to be "morally straight."

Scout officials are quick to point out that the group does not ask a person's sexual orientation on application forms.

Still, the policy exists, and critics say it is discriminatory. They argue that other major youth organizations such as the YMCA, Girl Scouts and Boys & Girls Clubs of America do not bar gays from being members.

The Boy Scouts, which today boasts 4.8 million members ages 7-20, was founded in 1908 by Robert Baden-Powell, author of "Scouting for Boys."

Baden-Powell founded the Scouts on a strong Christian ethic. Many regulations refer to duty to God. Today many Scout troops are sponsored by churches -- the majority of local troops, for example, are sponsored by the Mormon Church.

While Scouting preaches morals in its opposition to gays, its written policies appear to discourage discrimination and promote tolerance.

The Boy Scouts of America bylaws say Scouting "shall be carried on under conditions, which show respect to ... others in matters of custom and religion," and the Boy Scout Handbook says a Scout should, "respect and defend the rights of all people."

Garland says several of the 12 points of Scouting promote tolerance -- among them is that a Scout is friendly, courteous and kind. But "to have tolerance for a diversity of ideals does not mean you have to mow down your own ideals," he said.

Fulkerson, who recalls fellow Scouts making crude jokes about gay people, said tolerance and diversity have never been the organization's strong suits.

"Some forget that it was not so long ago that blacks and Jews were prohibited from getting into some troops," Fulkerson said. "Bad traditions die hard in the Boy Scouts."

Garland declined to speculate on what would happen to many chapters if the national organization ever abandons its anti-gay policy. However, he said the local organization would follow national policy.

"I feel that one day change will come -- it has to," Fulkerson said. "I believe bigotry has a high price, and the Boy Scouts should have to pay that price in the form of funds being withheld until they change their policy.

"One of the most important things I learned in the Boy Scouts was patriotism. I can think of no greater unpatriotic act than to discriminate against someone. The Boy Scouts' anti-gay policy is un-American."

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