Let's Take Action!

I. Scouts, Adult Members, and Sponsors

Through the Scout Oath and Law, the Boy Scout Handbook, and the Citizenship merit badge booklets, we can see that scouting teaches its members to help make the earth a better place. Discrimination and Bigotry have never been a part of Scouting. Those in Scouting have an ethical and moral obligation to stand against the bigotry of its current leadership.

If you are a Scout sponsor (charting organization e.g. churches, service clubs, etc.) insist that your Scout unit adopt an anti-discrimination policy and send it to the BSA and to your local Scout Council.

Action Alert to All Members of the Boy Scouts of America

• To All Members of the Boy Scouts of America, A Call to Action: Boy Scouts, Adult Leaders and Scout Councils Throughout the United States of America

The Supreme Court Got It Wrong

• The Supreme Court Got It Wrong

Scouts Take a Stand Against the Boy Scouts of America's Policy Of Discrimination

Scout Units - If you are aware of a Scout Unit in your area that has adopted an anti-discrimination statement / policy and would like to be listed in this section to inspire other Scout Units to do the same, please send your information to info@scoutingforall.org. We would be honored to list the courageous Scout Unit in this section of the Scouting For All web page.

[ California Colorado Indiana Illinois Michigan New York Oregon Rhode Island Wisconsin ]

• An Example of an Anti-discrimination Statement from Den 4 Pack 8, Petaluma, California
• Pack 43 Corte Madera, California Anti-discrimination Statement
• Den 5 Pack 27,Sebastopol, California of the Redwood Empire Council, Anti-discrimination Statement
• Berkeley, California Cub Scout Pack 30's Position on Gay Scouts and Leaders
• Den 7 Pack 1 of Los Angeles California Opposes BSA Policy
• Pack 28, Santa Barbara, California Tells the Boy Scouts of America They Won't Teach Discrimination
• Pack 34 Westwood, Western Los Angeles County Council Plays Hardball with Cub Scout Pack 34 because they have taken a stand on the side of human rights.
• Venture Crew 488, Sebastopol, CA Antidiscrimination Letters to BSA National and
  the Redwood Empire Council, Santa Rosa CA
• <Troop 130 of Golden Colorado, says it won't ask or tell About Anyone's sexual Orientaion
• Parents of Troop 335 West Lafayette, Indiana Tell the BSA Discrimination is Wrong
• Oak Park Scout Units Plan to Leave the BSA for Campfire Boys and Girls an Outdoor Program that Doesn't Discriminate
• Oak Park Scouts Kicked Out by the BSA Join Camp Fire Boys and Girls
• Pack 33 Great Sauk Trail Council Ann Arbor, Michigan, says no to the BSA Policy of Discrimination
• Honey Creek Community School Pack 33, Ann Arbor, MI Tells the BSA It's Leaving to Join the Campfire Boys and Girls
• Troop 103 East Harlem, New York Tells the BSA They Won't Discriminate
• Cohes, NY, Troop 670, 54 year old Scout Troop Stands by Chris Hayes, gay Eagle Scout
• Troop 110 Resolution, Portland, OR, Pioneer Dist. Casade Pacific Council
• Cub Scout Pack 88, RI, Chartered by the Central Congregational Church Say They Won't Discriminate
• Troop 28 Joins Cub Scout Pack 88 Providance Rhode Island: Defy the BSA's Discrimination Aganist Gay Youth and Adults
• Madison, Wisconsin's Cub Scout Pack 302, Chartered by the Franklin/Randall PTO, Takes a Public Stand Against the BSA
• CUBS' PARENTS TO FIGHT GAY POLICY INSTEAD OF PULLING OUT OF SCOUTING, THEY DECIDE TO WORK FOR CHANGE.

Scout Councils - If you are aware of a BSA Scout Council in your area that has adopted an anti-discrimination statement / policy or has questioned the BSA policy of discrimination in any way, please send Scouting for All your information to info@scoutingforall.org. It will help inspire other Scout Councils to also find the true scouting courage to stand against social injustice, even if that injustice is being committed by their own organization, the Boy Scouts of America.

[ California Minnesota New York Rhode Island ]

• Some Scout Councils of the BSA Question and Some Defy their Policy of Discrimination
• Piedmont Scout Council, California, Will Not Follow the National BSA Policy of Discrimination
• Indian Head Council, St. Paul, Minnesota
• Baden Powell Council, New York, The Pool Geller Case
• The Greater New York Council asks for a "Timely Review" of the BSA National's Policy of Exclusion
  • (and more)
• Twin Rivers Council, Albany, NY Stands by Fellow Gay Scout Chris Hayes
• The Greater New York Council, BSA Announced Its Decision to Challenge the National BSA's Policy of Discrimination
• Narragansett Council 546, Providence, Rhode Island
• The Narragansett Council of Boy Scouts had asked its parent organization to review the policy - National BSA Stands by Gay Ban
• Narragansett Council of the BSA Announced Once Again They Asked National BSA to Review its Ban on Gays
• Troop 28 of Providence, RI Says the Narragansett Council May Need to Succeed from BSA National

Scout Professionals / Active and Nonactive Adult Leaders

• Scout Exec Comes Out
• National office dismisses gay Scout council leader
• Eagle Scout Inducted into the Eagle Scout Hall of Fame NY Speaks Out Against BSA Discrimination
• Members of the Boy Scouts of America Speak Out Against the BSA Policy of Discrimination
• Judge James Lambden California 1st District Court of Appeal Left Scouting as an Assistant Scoutmaster after 35 years because his Professional Ethics was in Conflict with the BSA's Policy of Discrimination; but the BSA has a Loophole
• New York Council of the BSA, Scout Executive Daniel R. Gasparo says, "Our Programs Do Not Discriminate Based on Sexual Orientation
• Edwin George, Ph.D., Eagle Scout, Sends a Strong Message to Members of the BSA: Support Scouting in America by Taking a Stand Against It's Policy of Discrimination
• Exclusion of Gays Violates Voyageur Council's Principles says a 25 Year Board Member Who Resigned from the Voyageurs Area Council Executive Board, Hibbing and Duluth MN
• Den Leader of 2 Dens and Parent in Pack 515, Watsonville, California Resigns
• Eagle Scout, Fire Chief Speaks Out Against the BSA's Policy of Discrimination
• Mike Sullivan, Executive Board Member of the Voyageurs Area Council Resigns Out of Protest Over the BSA Policy of exclusion
• John Archer, 2000 Business Person of the Year by the Beverly, MA, Chamber of Commerce Resigns as the BSA Yankee Clipper Council Fundraiser

Chartered Organizations (services clubs, PTAs, churches) - If you are aware of a chartered (sponsoring) organization in your area that has adopted an anti-discrimination statement / policy or has taken a stand in another way against the BSA's policy of discrimination and would like to be listed in this section to inspire other chartering organizations to do the same, please send your information to info@scoutingforall.org.

[ California Colorado Massachusetts New York Pennsylvania Wisconsin ]

• Reform Jewish Leaders Recommend to End Their Ties With the Boy Scouts of America
• Redwoods Presbyterian Church, Larkspur, California Charter organization for Pack 43 of Corte Madera, CA: Does Not Accept the BSA's Policy of Exclusion
• Rabbi James Lee Kaufman, Speaks for His Congregation, Temple Beth Hillel, San Fernando Valley, CA: Tells the BSA They Will not Follow Their Anti-gay Policy and Advocates Change from Within the BSA
• Episcopal Church at Their 73rd General Convention held in Denver, CO Adpoted the Following Resolution in Response to the Boy Scouts of America's Policy of Discrimination
• Washington Park Church of Colorado Ends Its 60 Year Association with the Boy Scouts of America
• Temple Emanuel, Denver's Largst Synagogue Banned the BSA Because of Its Discriminatory Policy Against Persons Who are Gay
• Union Congregational Church affiliated with the United Church of Christ, Taunton, Massachusetts rejects the BSA's Policy of Discrimination
• Chartering Church (Fort Washington Collegiate Church of Washington Heights, New York City) and Troop 729 Stand together in Adopting an Anti-discrimination Policy
• St. Edmund's Academy in Squirrel Hill, PA Won't Sponsor Pack 4 Because of the BSA's Anti-Gay Policy
• Rev. Joan Armstrong, First Unitarian Society, Madison, WI: Poignant Summation of the Struggles of her Church Face to Face with the Bigotry of the BSA
• Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ, Madison, WI says no to the Boy Scouts of America: refuses to sponsor bigotry

Gay Scouts Need Gay Adult Scout Leaders

• Gay Role Models are Needed for Gay Youth

The Boy Scouts of America are Violating Their Own Scout Oath and Law

• An Overview Of The Golden Book of Scouting
• Boy Scouts of America Don't Keep Their Own Oath
• THE LETTER THAT INSPIRED THE SCOUTING FOR ALL MOVEMENT: THE COURAGE OF A BRAVE BOY SCOUT
• Boy Scout Prayer Book Now Obsolete!
• Versions of the Scout Oath and Law from Around the World

Boy Scouts of America Position Statements

Official Position Statements of the Boy Scouts of America on Diversity, School Access and the United Way

• Roy Williams, Chief Scout Executive says the BSA will not change its policy against gays unless membership decreases
• Steven VS the BSA National
• Boy Scouts of America Standard Position Statement to the News Media
• Redwood Empire Council Statement to the Press
• One of Matthew Shepard's Murderers was an Eagle Scout: What Kind of Message is the BSA Giving Our Youth?
• Core Values of Scouting or Core Values of Religious Fundamentalists?
• Pamphlet distributed in Conn. explains Scout stance on gays

Boy Scout of America Membership Statistics

• BSA Traditional Scouting Membership in Decline - January 1, 2008
• Boy Scout Enrollment: Growth Declines in '98, '99
• Membership Figures 2000
• Boy Scouts' Rolls decline by 25%: Thousands dropped after inquiry

Protest by Turning in your Scout Awards

• Some Scouts Protest by Turning In Their Award Badges- Eagle
• Send Your Eagle Badge and other Scouting Awards to Scouting For All not to The BSA
• I'm an Eagle Scout and I'm Ashamed of the Boy Scouts of America
• List of Those Courageous Scouts Who Have Turned in Their Eagle badge/Scout Awards as a Form of Protest
• Commentary: A father and his son give back their Eagle Scout medals

What do I do as a Parent?

• Should I Sign My Child Up with the Boy Scouts of America?
• Scouting parents face tough decisions after court ruling
• A Concerned Parent Expresses Herself
• Mothering: Is "Be Unfair" The New Scout Motto?
• A List of Some Youth Organizations That Don't Discriminate
• A Parent Makes an Ethical Decision by Withdrawing His Son from the BSA
• A Father Shares His Story About His Son and What It Means to be a Good Scout

II. Funders of the Boy Scouts of America

We call upon the businesses and organizations such as the United Way who fund the BSA to follow their own business and organization's anti-discrimination policies. Only donate/contribute funds to youth organizations that don't discriminate. Inform the Boy Scouts of America that they must rescind their discriminatory policy against gay youth and adults and atheists or be terminated as a beneficiary.

Question the United Way in Your Community: Are they following their own anti-discrimination policy by contributing to the BSA?

• List of United Ways that have withdrawn their funding of the BSA
• Send Letters To The United Way and Those Who Support The United Way
• Articles Covering the United Way's Response to the BSA Supreme Court Decision
• United Way board approves anti-bias policy: Member agencies will have to sign statement of nondiscrimination
• United Way of the (San Francisco) Bay Area and the Boy Scouts of America (Anti discrimination statement)
• The United Way of Greater Milwaukee will examine whether the agency should continue to support the local Boy Scouts of America
• United Ways Across the Country Need to Ask themselves: Would They Fund the BSA if The BSA Discriminated Against African American Youth and Adults or any other Group? If not then Why Should Any United Way Contribute to the Boy Scouts of America Who discriminate Against our Gay Children and Adults as well as Atheists
• Finance Dir. for the United Way of Monmouth County Resigned After She Learned Her UW Was going to Continue to Fund a Bigoted Organization, the BSA

Corporations and Businesses Contribute Funds to Youth Organizations that Don't Discriminate

• Sample Letter You Could Use to Write to Businesses Asking Them Not to Financially Support the Boy Scouts of America
• Letter to Chase Manhattan Bank: Boy Scouts of America Funding
• List of Corporations Who Refuse to Fund the Boy Scouts of America
• Refuse to Do Business with Companies that Fund the Boy Scouts of America
• Businesses in the Twin Cities Area, the Twin Cities Quorum, Minneapolis, MN, Challenges the BSA to Rescind It's Policy of Discrimination
• Labor Union Groups Take stand on BSA Issue
• Your Local Scout Council and BSA National Doesn't Support the Scout Unit Financially, the Parents Do, says an Adult Leader

III. Public Organizations

This includes the military, municipalities, schools, police and fire departments, PTA's, etc. We ask that you reexamine your relationship with the BSA in light of your own anti-discrimination policies. Insist that discrimination be prohibited by any group that uses your services and or facilities. We ask all school districts to think about the message that you would be giving our gay and straight students if you allowed organizations that discriminate against gay youth such as the Boy Scouts of America to use your school facilities and allow adult BSA leaders to recruit in your schools. Just think about the harmful message you would be giving our gay and straight youth.

Question the Use of Public Facilities by the Boy Scouts of America - If your state is not listed and you are aware of action taken against the BSA to oppose its policy of discrimination in your area of the country please alert Scouting For All by sending us your information to info@scoutingforall.org. Scouting For All will post your information on our web page to help inspire other communities to also take a stand against the BSA's policy of discrimination.

[ California Connecticut Florida Illinois Massachusetts Michigan New Mexico North Carolina Pennsylvania New York Washington Wisconsin ]

• Boy Scouts of America in Public Schools? Check out GLSEN's Resources at www.glsen.org or www.glsen.org/pages/sections/bsa/
• How Your Tax Dollars Support the Boy Scouts of America: what you can do to protest the BSA's exclusion policy
• Cities and School Districts Across America: Reacting to the BSA's Bigoted Policy
• The Archaeology Community Questions Whether to Support the BSA Because of It's Anti-Gay Policy
• The Supreme Court Got It Wrong
• Sheriff Baca, Long Beach, California, Rejects BSA's ban on Gays, says Local Troops Should Decide / Explorer Program May Get Pulled
  • Click here for more information on Sheriff Baca
• The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday Voted 11-0 to Cut the City's Ties with the Boy Scouts of America
• Santa Barbara, California, City Council Agrees to Sever Ties with the Boy Scouts of America Until the BSA Rescinds its Anti-Gay Policy
• The Human Rights Commission of Davis California says the BSA is in Clear Violation of the City of Davis' Anti-discrimination Ordinance
• The Connecticut Human Rights Organization Affirmed Its Earlier Decision to Exclude the Boy Scouts from the State Employee Fund-raising Campaign
• Miami Dade School Board Bans Scouts from Facilities
• Broward School Board evicts 60 Boy Scout, Cub Scout troops over anti-gay policy (with updates)
• The Walton Manors, Florida City Council approved a human rights ordinance prohibiting the use of city funds and facilities to private organizations that discriminate.
• West Palm Beach, FL City Commissioners Objected to Donating Public Money to the BSA Because of Its Policies Toward Gays
• Palm Beach County, Florida, Two Jewish Community Centers Asked the BSA to Leave Because of their Policy of Discrimination
• Oak Park, Illinois Beye Elementary School says, if the Pack won't write an anti-discrimination statement then they must "GO".
• Further update on Oak Park
• Bennett School Principal Leo Melanson has Decided to Stop the Schools Sponsorship of a Local Cub Scout Pack Because of the BSA's Policy of Exclusion
• Acton School Committee Tells the BSA They Cannot Distribute BSA Literature in Its School
• Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, sayy Detroit May Cut Funding to the Boy Scouts of America
• Scouting For All Alliance for Human Rights member, PFLAG Albuquerque, NM Speaks Out
• Raleigh, NC Chapel Hill - Carrboro School System: The BSA Policy of Discrimination is in Direct Conflict with the School District's policy of Inclusion
  • (updates on the Chapel hill - Carrboro School District)
  • (for further information on the Carrboro School district)
• Raleigh, NC Chapel Hill - Carrboro School System: The BSA Policy of Discrimination is in Direct Conflict with the School
• East Hampton, Long Island, New York, Accepts Scout Units Anti-discrimination Statements and Rejects the BSA Policy of Discrimination
  • (updates)
• The New York City, the nation's largest school system will greatly scale back its relationship with the Boy Scouts due to
  the Scouts' policy of barring openly Gay members
• Newburgh, NY Gay Residents, Say Scouts Should Not Be Allowed to Use School Buildings
• Sgt. Edgar Rodriguez New York Police Department, says "if organizations like the Boy Scouts were to teach tolerance, they could help prevent hate crimes".
• Former New York City Mayor Edward Koch says NYC should Deny Supporting the BSA as long as the BSA Discriminates
• Edgar Rodriguez, Officer for the NYPD says the Boy Scouts of America's policy Hurts Kids!
• Alpha Phi Omega of Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA is Asked to Stop Supporting the BSA
• The Safe Schools Coalition of Washington has asked, Seattle Public Schools to Restrict the Boy Scouts of America's Access to Students and School Buildings
• Kimball Elementary Writes to the Chief Seattle Council of the BSA and says, No More Use of Our School as Long as the BSA Discriminates
• Chief Seattle Boy Scout Council, Agree to Allow High School Group Not to Discriminate, Seattle, Washington
• Scouting For All Supporters Write Letters to the University of Washington Results in the UW Dropping Boy Scout Night
• The Madison, Wisconsin School Board's Resolution Statement on the Boy Scouts of America
• Action Wisconsin a Congress Human Rights nonprofit, says "the Wisconsin State Assembly Came to a Compromise on the BSA Issue"

Legal Coverage of the Boy Scouts of America's Policy of Discrimination

• The Dale VS BSA Case www.lambdalegal.org
• Villanova University School of Law, Women's Law Forum, Dale VS BSA
• Supreme Court Collection: Boy Scouts of America V. Dale
• The following Document Contains Significant Excerpts from the Supreme Court's Decision, Dale V BSA
• State lawmakers moved yesterday to undermine Tucson's refusal to fund the Boy Scouts over that group's refusal to allow gay Scout leaders.
• New Jersey Law May Evict the BSA from the Use of Its Public Schools
• An Interview with Roy Williams, BSA Chief Scout Executive and Response from Mike Neubacker, Member of Scouting For All

IV. Religious Denominations and the Boy Scouts of America

A Call to All Religious Leaders

On June 28th, 2000, the Supreme Court of the United States made it official - the BSA was given legal sanction to discriminate against gay youth and adults as well as atheists. With the advent of this stunning decision, many Faith Communities have started to rethink their relationship with the BSA and to question whether chartering a troop or other scout unit fits in with their policies of inclusiveness. Fully 61.51% of units representing 55.03% of the youth in Scouting are chartered by religious organizations. There is a huge responsibility on the part of Faith Communities to "do the right thing," but just what that is, remains the big question.

For some it means recommending to their congregations that they completely disassociate from the BSA, while looking forward to the day when they can rejoin and know that all God's children will be welcome. For others the choice may be to stay and continue to work for change from within. But for all, it seems clear that to stay in and not advocate for change means colluding
with the discrimination of the BSA -- something inclusive Faith Communities should not be prepared to do.

Scouting for All is advising that as a minimum to advise all chartering (sponsoring) organizations within your faith communities adopt policies of non-discrimination. Also, insist that any group or scout unit that uses your facilities, sign a similar statement of non-discrimination. Finally, as religious leaders support programs that embrace gay youth as well as straight youth such as Gay / Straight Alliances (GSAs / www.studentprideusa.org) at the high school level and within your congregations.

The heritage of strong faith and the belief that all human beings have inherent worth asks this of you: that you be lights of hope, beacons of courage and love, and defenders of the disenfranchised.

For information on chartering organizations that are Religious Denominations Who have Taken A Stand Against the BSA's policy of Discrimination, Please Go to Section I Chartered Organizations and also to the Links menu under the title Support from Religious Denominations.

• LDS, (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) Family Speaks Out Against the HOMOPHOBIA of the LDS Church: The Harm The Church has Caused Its Gay Youth
• Reform Jewish Leaders Recommend to End Their Ties With the Boy Scouts of America
• Unitarian Church in Portland, Maine Held a Public Forum: Homosexuality and the BSA
• "Travesty of Justice"
• Statement from More Light Presbyterians on the Boy Scouts of America

V. Other Things You Can Do

Organize a Protest

• Click Here for a listing of Protest locations and Contacts
• Click Here for suggestions for leading a protest
• LAMBDA's Suggestions on How to Organize a Rally
• Photos from the Scouting For All National Day of Protest

Write to the President of the United States

• Write a letter to the President of the United States
• Steven Cozza, Eagle Scout Asks the President of the U.S. to Resign as the Honorary President of the BSA
• Vice President Gore's Letter to Steven Cozza, Eagle Scout

Addresses to Write to Advocate Against the BSA Policy of Discrimination

• Addresses for National BSA Officials, United Way and the President of the U.S.

Congresswomen Lynn Woolsey, 6th District, California Courageous Stand

• Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, 6th District, California Leads Call for President Clinton to Resign as the Honorary President of the Boy Scouts of America

Other Things You Can Do to Stand Against the Discrimination of the Boy Scouts of America

• Scouting For All Brochures - Please download, copy and distribute.
• Become A Member
• Print Out the Petition Form
• Sign The Online Petition
• Grant Assitance
• Become A Volunteer
• 3 Things You Can Do and More
• Please Write to Steven Spielberg, BSA National Advisory Council Member
  • Den 7 Pack 1, Los Angeles California Writes to Steven Spielberg
  • A Statement from Steven Spielberg's office about his involvement with BSA
  • Action Alert Steven Spielberg and the Boy Scouts of America

VI. Scouting For All's Alliance for Human Rights

The Scouting For All Alliance for Human Rights is made up of national, community based organizations, and grass-roots groups advocating for the end of discrimination by the Boy Scouts of America toward gay youth and adults and atheists, and in doing so this Alliance will be reaching out to both our gay youth and straight youth with a positive self-affirming and healing message.

• All You Ever Wanted to Know About the Alliance
• List of Alliance Members