An article from today’s Rutland Herald caught my eye. There’s a $7,500 appropriation to the Boy Scouts for a veteran’s day parade in the budget, and there’s controversy over it because the scouts have an anti-gay policy with respect to their volunteer pool.
I get the arguments in support of this money– it does fund a veteran’s day parade, but still it creates problems to have state money going to support an organization which is overtly homophobic.
So I have a proposal: appropriate the money, not to the Scouts themselves but to fund a veteran’s day parade, and allow the scouts to volunteer to do the work in putting it together, but don’t allow the money to be used to promote the Boy Scouts in any way, shape or form.
It still allows the good work to be done, without using state funds to promote an organization which is openly hostile towards lesbians and gay men.
No one is excluded from taxation based on sexual orientation so the disbursement of public funds should reflect that universality. This is a diplomatic solution that respects all contributors and still allows the project to be successfully accomplished.
The Boy Scouts have an explicit religious test for membership that excludes any person with non-theistic beliefs. This has been applied inconsistently, but has at times excluded Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, agnostic, neopagan, and even Unitarian.
When challenged in court, BSA has always vigorously asserted that they are a private organization and free to adopt exclusionary policies. They don’t, of course, put that front and center when they want public funding or facilities.