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05/29/08
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America there, called the "Cradle of Liberty Council," is currently dealing with that very issue. The city has for 80 years rented some space on city land to the council for an annual rent of $1. Now, however, the city has said that the Boy Scouts have to admit atheists and homosexuals or be evicted. The Boy Scouts require that every Boy Scout swear the Scout Oath, which requires swearing that the scout will do his duty to "God and my country." Additionally, the oath requires scouts to be "physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight."
This means for all intents and purposes that atheists and homosexuals are not allowed, since atheists can't logically swear an oath to do their duty to God, and the requirement to be morally straight doesn't allow homosexuality (in the Boy Scout view).
The US Supreme Court upheld the right of the Boy Scouts to not admit atheists and homosexuals in 2000 in the case Boy Scouts of America v. Dale. But Philadelphia says that their local ordinance forbids discrimination against gays, and in fact the spokesman for the city stated that the ordinance trumps the Boy Scouts' First Amendment rights. (Who knew you could override the First Amendment by ordinance?).
So now the city threatens to evict the Boy Scouts, after the Boy Scouts have spent over $60,000 a year to maintain the building with over $1 million recently to renovate the building. The city wants to just toss the Scouts, or collect $200,000 in rent annually, which means over 800 kids won't get to go to summer camp.
As for the claims that the city isn't discriminating against (or punishing) the Boy Scouts for exercising their First Amendment rights, the city has failed to explain how changing an 80-year-old policy in an attempt to force said rights to be given up isn't a punishment — particularly when other groups that have exclusive membership also get nominal-rent leases.
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