Protesters rally against funding

Boy Scouts are usually happy to receive merit awards for community service. But instead of receiving them, six former Boy Scouts protested Monday by handing back the merit badges they earned as scouts.\nAlong with members of Bloomington United and Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, the former Boy Scouts positioned themselves across the street from the Hoosier Trails Council office to protest the policy the troop leaders cannot be gay.\n"Sexual orientation has no bearing on being a good troop leader," said former Eagle Scout Mike Wilson.\nThe sexual orientation of Boy Scout leaders became an issue in July in the court case, Boy Scouts of America v. James Dale. The Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts is a private association and had the right to oust troop leader James Dale because of his sexual orientation.\nThe Bloomington protest joined 39 other protests around the nation organized by Scouting for All.\nThe protest started with six former scouts returning awards. The program was then turned over to several speakers, including mothers of homosexual former boy scouts: Rev. Barbara Carlson of the Unitarian Universalist Church, PFLAG president Doris Fox and Eagle Scout Benjamin Walker.\nIU Alumni Association Vice President and Chief Communications Officer Judy Schroeder read a statement from her son, Tony Weinstein; "If Boy Scouts see gay men as leaders, they will learn not to fear those whose sexual orientations are different from their own." \nWeinstein also pointed out that to be morally straight as dictated by the Boy Scout pledge, one does not need to be heterosexual.\nCarlson remembered a statement by one Boy Scout in her congregation.\n"The Boy Scout Association is contradicting their own laws," Carlson recounted. "The Boy Scout handbook advises the scout to respect the rights of others different from themselves."\nThe protest even attracted a few counter-protesters. Jim Billingsley wore a T-shirt with a picture of the crucifixion and carrying a poster that read, "There is nothing moral about sin."\n"I wanted to come out and support (the Boy Scouts of America)," said Billingsley, "and the standard they hold their troop leaders to." \nBillingsley believes the Boy Scouts of America are "concerned about leaders that would promote a an immoral lifestyle."\nSchroeder dismissed the idea that homosexual leaders would impose their lifestyle on scouts. \n"People believe mistakenly that gays 'recruit,'" said Schroeder, "when in fact we recruit our children to heterosexuality."\nThe Hoosier Trails Council defended its position in a press release.\n"We believe an avowed homosexual is not a role model for values espoused in the Scout Oath and Law," said the press release. "Boy Scouting makes no effort to discover the sexual orientation of any person. Scouting's message is compromised when prospective leaders present themselves as role models inconsistent with Boy Scouting's understanding of the Scout Oath and Law."\nThe protest ended with the symbolic hanging of a rope that had six pieces of colored rope tied on it, one for each former scout that gave up his awards, on the door of the Hoosier Trails Council office. Walker tied the final knot in the rope to make it a circle and hung it on the door.\n"Scouting was a very positive experience," said 18-year-old Walker. "It would be a shame if everyone could not have it."\n"The Supreme Court vote of 5-4 asserted what we already know," said protest organizer John Clower "But they did not grapple with the issue at hand." \nClower said he believed the main issue is really the allotment of public funds to an organization that is permitted to discriminate against certain groups.\nAssistant College of Arts and Sciences Dean Steve Sanders said he believes "it is wholly inappropriate for the United Way to continue funding of this organization."\nBarry Lessow, president of the board for the United Way said, "(The United Way is) working on a non-discriminatory policy that will govern our relationships with different agencies." \nThe United Way receives two types of donations. Donors can either specify the organization they want their money to go to or simply donate the money to something the United Way calls the allotment pool. The Boy Scouts receive $23,000 a year from the United Way, about 2 percent of the United Way budget.\nHoosier Trails Council said in a press release that it will continue to defend its membership standards.\n"We respect other people's right to hold differing opinions and ask that they respect ours," said the press release.