Next Tuesday’s mayoral election offers a field of candidates, almost all of whom don’t believe gays and lesbians are entitled to equality.

As we pointed out last week, when asked if they supported the Boy Scouts’ continued use of Balboa Park, the major candidates, except Donna Frye, indicated that they did. This included Jerry Sanders and Steve Francis. The latter two also support keeping the cross atop Mt. Soledad on public land; Frye does not.

I’m not writing here to endorse Donna Frye’s candidacy. But it’s unconscionable in 2005 that supposedly “progressive” candidates for mayor support the BSA’s use of Balboa Park. The BSA is a group that engages in blatant bias against gays. And, after 15 years and millions in court costs, still arguing that the cross should remain on public land is ludicrous.

The BSA is not just anti-gay. It admitted that it lied by inflating the numbers of minority youth in its programs so it could be eligible for grant money. I won’t even mention here how the BSA this summer alone has managed to lose three youths during camping trips. So much for supervision. Is the BSA planning an overnight trip to Neverland Ranch? Nothing to worry about – it’s owned by a father with three kids. The Scouts’ screening for leaders? The confessed BTK killer was a Scout leader.

Let’s keep in mind that the BSA continues to use 18 acres of public land in Balboa Park and it continues to engage in bias based upon religious and sexual orientation, both of which are illegal when a group uses public property. Regardless of how one calculates the “rent” the BSA pays, all agree it’s far below fair market value.

The BSA admitted in federal court that it’s a “religious” organization. That alone prompted a federal judge here to rule that the city of San Diego’s lease with the BSA violates the First Amendment. In short, the city subsidizes a religious group, a practice that violates not just the California Constitution but also the First Amendment.

The city originally defended the BSA in federal court but, after the judge’s ruling, backed out, agreeing to pay the ACLU close to $1 million in fees. The vote to settle was close. The City Council makeup has changed. It’s exactly the kind of vote that a mayor (with veto power) could rescind. That’s what makes this mayor’s race so crucial.

There’s little doubt that the federal and state courts are going to find that San Diego cannot give subsidies to the BSA because it’s a religious group. Nor can San Diego enter into any contracts with the BSA, or any group that engages in anti-gay bias.

In the meantime, however, the BSA takes its case up on appeal while it continues to discriminate on the basis of religious and sexual orientation.

One would think Sanders and Francis would be distancing themselves from the BSA and the inevitable. Just as the cross atop Mt. Soledad cannot remain, the BSA cannot remain with public subsidy in Balboa Park.

It’s very easy for Sanders and Francis to pander to the social and religious conservatives. They see efforts to remove the BSA and the cross from public land as an assault on Christianity and a promotion of the “homosexual” agenda. These people vote and sign petitions.

Of course, it’s also more palatable to simply say, as Sanders does, that he doesn’t want to see the kids hurt, and that he “honors” all veterans. Yet Jerry Sanders knows that the BSA is hurting kids because the BSA ousted openly gay police officer Chuck Merino from the Explorers program.

Kids miss his leadership. The BSA hurts all kids and parents who want to be a part of the Scouts, but can’t be because either they don’t “qualify” or they are fair-minded people who abhor bias against others. The city isn’t hurting kids: it’s the BSA.

On the cross issue, Sanders and Francis know from speaking before most non-believers and non-Christians that they view the cross atop Mt. Soledad standing alone as a divisive religious symbol that does not honor all fallen heroes.

Seeing Sanders and Francis sticking up for the politically popular but legally indefensible reminds me of former Gov. George Wallace proclaiming, in reaction to orders to integrate Alabama schools, “Segregation now, segregation forever.”

This kind of segregation based upon sexual and religious orientation is untenable.

As 100,000-plus gather next week in San Diego for Pride, it’s embarrassing enough that San Diego is racked with financial scandal. But more striking is that, while San Francisco and Los Angeles are doing everything to recognize GLBT equality, we have people seeking office here who still support segregation.