Montgomery County Public Schools
Members of the Board of Education
850 Hungerford Drive
Rockville, MD 20850

To Members of the Montgomery County School Board

I am writing representing a 501c3 nonprofit organization called www.scoutingforall.org . We have members throughout the country and internationally. We believe in Scouting but not the bigotry of its current leadership in Irving Texas. The current leadership has adopted a policy of exclusion. This policy discriminates against gay and atheist youth and adults. So some of your students and parenta as well as teachers are discriminated against by the Boy Scouts of America. Any group or organization that discriminates against any segment of our society should not be allowed to distribute any materials in any of our public schools nor should they be allowed to use public school facilities. Tas payer money should not be used in any way to support such organizations that discriminate such as the Boy Scouts of America.

Scouting for All supports the Montgomery County Board of Education's effort to prevent its policy on student flyers from being used as an unlimited public forum that would be open to any and every outside group for making any announcement whatsoever, but rather limiting the distribution of materials to those that are directly related to the public schools; other governmental agencies; and nonprofit, youth-oriented, sporting events.

In particular, Scouting for All wishes to support the school boards stand against the Boy Scouts of America's threatened lawsuit in which they claim that if public schools allow ANY nonprofit organization to have access, then they must allow ALL nonprofit organizations to have the same access, regardless of other criteria.

This is nonsense. Such a ruling would compel public schools to distribute announcements from any nonprofit organization, including those that advocate on either side of controversial issues such as abortion, gay rights or any number of other opposing viewpoints from nonprofit religious organizations.

Allowing the Boy Scouts of America (which has described itself in court as a "religious organization," and which discriminates on the basis of religion and sexual orientation) to distribute flyers would, on the other hand, allow other religious groups, or groups that discriminate on the basis of religion or sexual orientation, to sue for equal access on the basis of "viewpoint discrimination."

The school board's new policy on the distribution of flyers is both reasonable and viewpoint-neutral, and it does not create an unwarranted public forum.

Sincerely,
Scott Cozza, Pres.
PO Box 600841
San Diego, CA 92120-0841
National Office Phone
Tel: 619-229-1612
Email: info@scoutingforall.org