United Way Pulls Funding From The Four Lakes Council BSA, Madison Wisconsin

2/26/02

A significant victory was won today for the civil rights of LGBT people in Dane County, Wisconsin, and each and every Coalition member should feel an important part of that victory!!!

At 1 PM today, officials from the Four Lakes Council of the Boy Scouts announced that they were withdrawing as a member agency of the United Way of Dane County.

They said that too much energy and time was being expended on this issue that should be going instead into their programs. And they also said that they would continue ongoing efforts to positively influence their national organization.

This news is still barely an hour old, and I'll provide more details as they come available.

The hard work with the United Way and moving past this difficult time still lies ahead. The United Way has pledged in the past to find better ways to communicate with the LGBT community, and to understand our concerns. We must preserver in seeing that this happens to the greatest extent possible.

At this point, we are planning on going ahead with meetings with United Way executives Leslie Howard and Nan Cnare in the days ahead. Those meetings are on Thursday (February 28th) at 10 am at Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ and on Tuesday afternoon (March 5th) at 4 PM at the Madison Senior Center.

Once again, many thanks to all of you for your part in securing this important victory!!!

Dennis Coyier, Scouting for All Assistant Regional Dir. Midwestern Region