Pamphlet distributed in Conn. explains Scout stance on gays

ASSOCIATED PRESS, December 29, 2000

Some Connecticut Boy Scout officials have distributed more than 25,000 copies of a pamphlet explaining the national organization's reasons for not accepting openly gay members or adult leaders.

''It is a statement of who we are and what our belief system is,'' said Douglas Krofina, executive director of the Yankee Council, based in Milford.

The pamphlet, called ''In Support of Values: A Communication Tool for Parents, Leaders and Friends of Scouting,'' outlines the policy that was narrowly upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

''This is a complicated issue, but our critics are jumping up and down saying we discriminate,'' said Krofina, whose council serves 25,000 youths in most of New Haven and Fairfield counties.

''The court said we have a First Amendment right to associate with whom we choose,'' he said.

''Professed atheists can't be Scout leaders or members either. Had the atheists been more organized, they would have reached the Supreme Court first, and the court would have ruled the same way.''

The nation's highest court ruled in July that the Boy Scouts may bar homosexuals from serving as troop leaders, concluding that forcing the Scouts to accept gay leaders would violate the organization's First Amendment right of free expression.

The application for adult leaders does not ask a candidate's sexual orientation, and Scouting has an unofficial ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy similar to the military's, Krofina said.