Let’s make something perfectly clear: the GLBT community is not taking Balboa Park away from innocent young Boy Scouts. Yes the city is ending the Boy Scouts’ unfair lease on land in Balboa Park (see “City pulls out of Boy Scout lawsuit,” page 14), but we are not depriving them of anything; we are simply telling their leaders that they have to treat everyone decently. If the Boy Scout leadership feels it is more important to treat the GLBT community as intrinsically evil than it is to keep providing the Boy Scouts themselves with the services and amenities they are used to, it’s the BSA leadership who is depriving them, not GLBT activists.

A lot of people seem to miss this point.

Three years ago the rallying cry for those trying to keep the Boy Scouts in Balboa Park was “Don’t punish the children in an adult dispute.” The dispute, specifically between the leadership of the Boy Scouts of America in Irving, Texas, and the ACLU, was over the organization’s right to discriminate against individuals because of their religious (or non-religious, as the case may be) views or their sexual orientation.

Holding up innocent young boys as their poster children, it was easy for the Scouts to push their “Let’s not hurt the children” message even though the lease would violate the city’s very own human dignity ordinance, which states, “It shall be the policy of the city council to consider for tenancy only those organizations whose memberships are open to the public and do not discriminate in any manner against any person.”

Even Mayor Dick Murphy, a former judge who surely has an understanding of the law and its intent, fell for their “save the kids” message, saying, “I am unwilling to punish 25,000 San Diego Boy Scouts in order to send a protest to national scout leaders in Texas.”

However, it wasn’t those 25,000 San Diego Boy Scouts who were in the courtrooms arguing just a few short years ago for the right to discriminate against gays and those whose religious views did not match their own. It was the national leadership of the Boy Scouts of America who hired a big league legal team from New York to travel all over the country and defend them in legal battle after legal battle all the way up to the Supreme Court.

Those 25,000 San Diego Boy Scouts were too busy to discriminate as they were learning how to tie knots and build a fire with two sticks.

Maybe it’s time that the leadership of the Boy Scouts of America learned a few lessons of their own. Let’s start with their oath, which is repeated over and over every time they feel the need to defend themselves for their stance against gays. The Scouts were founded over 92 years ago, and their oath, the words they live by, are as follows: “On my honor, I will do my best, to do my duty to God and my country and to obey scout law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.”

Somewhere along the line — probably not too long before they started booting people out for being gay — the Scouts leadership decided that “morally straight” meant literally straight.

However, according to pages 45 and 46 of the Boy Scout Handbook, 11th ed (copyright 1998) morally straight is defined: “To be a person of strong character, your relationships with others should be honest and open. You should respect and defend the rights of all people. Be clean in your speech and actions, and remain faithful in your religious beliefs. The values you practice as a Scout will help you shape a life of virtue and self-reliance.”

Not a mention of sexual orientation anywhere. To use the phrase “morally straight” as justification excluding gays is quite simply pandering to the religious right and is an insult to the intelligence of the vast majority of Americans.

The GLBT community and the ACLU are not the bad guys here, kicking those fine upstanding young men who do a lot of good work for the community out of Balboa Park. The Boy Scouts’ very own leaders are, because they fought for the right to be a private organization, for the right to discriminate, and in turn for the right to not be able to rely on federal, state or local funds to support their organization. Now the BSA leaders and their hired guns from New York are kicking and screaming like spoiled brats, saying that their religious freedoms are being trampled on because they don’t get free land in Balboa Park anymore. They still have their religious freedom. No one is questioning that. They are just learning another important lesson in ethics: you can’t always have your cake and eat it too.

Now local councilmembers who voted to end the Boy Scouts’ lease in Balboa Park are being attacked from all across the country for making the only fair decision. They need to hear from people who think they did the right thing. The following councilmembers voted to end the lease. Call and let them know you think they made the right decision.

Toni Atkins (619) 236-6633

Donna Frye (619) 236-6616

Ralph Inzunza (619) 236-6688

Charles Lewis (619) 236-6644

Scott Peters (619) 236-6611

Michael Zucchet (619) 236-6622