Press Release
For Immediate Release and Distribution
Please forward to local and National News Media

April 1, 2005

Contact
Scott Cozza, President
Scouting for All
Telephone: (707) 778-0564
E-mail: cozzahived@aol.com
Web site: www.scoutingforall.org

Scouting for All Says the Boy Scouts of America National Leadership Needs to Be Replaced

The Boy Scouts of America once a great youth outdoor program is now a mere shadow of itself. It has become lost down a dark path of immoral transgressions. Recent events have again highlighted that the national leadership of the Boy Scouts of America has brought the integrity of the entire organization into question, and should be replaced.

The national leadership of the Boy Scouts of America imposed a discriminatory policy on all of its members and local councils by excluding gay and atheist youth and adults, stating that such people are immoral because of their sexual orientation and their atheistic beliefs. The national leadership is so self-righteous that they don't even see how this discriminatory policy is extremely destructive and harmful to all youth, and just how immoral such a policy actually is. They don't allow themselves to see how such a policy incites violence towards persons who are homosexual, such as happened in the case of Matthew Shepard, who was murdered by two individuals -one was an Eagle Scout, and the other a Mormon. Institutional homophobia is immoral and is contrary to both the Scout Oath and Scout Law.

The BSA's national leadership is so self-righteous they also don't see their other immoral transgressions. One of their national leaders out of their own national headquarters in Irving, Texas, Douglas Smith, the National Director of Programs and Chairman of the BSA Youth Protection Task Force in 2002, has been arrested for receiving and distributing child pornography. In November of 2002, Smith defended the BSA's policy against homosexuals.

The national leadership of the BSA has allowed many councils to stray far from the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law in the name of financial gain by not following the high moral standard proclaimed by both the Scout Oath and Scout Law. They have done this because they seem to be so self-righteous. They seem to act as though they are above the law. The Greater Alabama Council, Birmingham, AL, the Atlanta Area Council,
Atlanta, GA and the Gulf Ridge Council, Tampa Bay, FL are currently under investigation for fraud by the FBI for allegedly inflating their membership numbers in order to receive larger donations from some United Ways; city, state and federal government agencies; and private businesses. Other Scout councils that have been found to falsify their membership numbers include Circle Ten Council, Dallas, TX; Los Angeles Council, Los Angels, CA; Longhorn Council, Ft. Worth, TX; Indian Nations Council, Tulsa, OK; Golden Empire Council, Sacramento, CA; Chattahoochee Council, Columbus, GA; Calument Council, Munster, IN; and Bay Area Council, Galveston, TX.

Yes, it is sad to say that, the Boy Scouts of America's national leadership in Irving, Texas has corrupted both the Scout Oath and Scout Law through its own blinded self-righteousness as they struggle to keep the program afloat. They are struggling because they are becoming victims of their own greed and prejudice.

Scouting for All, an organization inspired by Steven Cozza, an Eagle Scout and whose team is made up of many other Eagle Scouts and prior BSA members, is trying to save the Boy Scouts of America by advocating that it embrace the values of both the Scout Oath and Scout Law, and by once again becoming a morally straight organization that is inclusive, just as the majority of the World Scouting Movement. We ask that in order to begin this healing process, the nat ional leaders of the Boy Scouts of America step down, in the best interest of the organization, and ultimately in the best interest of all the youth under its charge. We ask that Boy Scouts of America members and local councils demand this change at the top level of the organization in order to help bring the Boy Scouts of America out of its dark moral bankruptcy into the light of a new beginning of hope and renewal.