[joesnuffy]

LAW OF THE LAND
Judge rules Scouts
'religious' group
Long-standing lease of park considered 1st
Amendment violation

Posted: August 6, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

The city of San Diego is contemplating an appeal of a
federal court decision that sided with the ACLU and
a lesbian couple seeking to nullify its long-standing
lease of a public park to the Boy Scouts.

A U.S. District Court judge ruled last Thursday the
Boy Scouts is a religious organization, and the
agreement to use Balboa Park violates the First
Amendment's ban on state-sponsored religion.

In a closed session last night, the city council was
scheduled to discuss whether it would advise the city
attorney to file an appeal.

Judge Napoleon Jones, Jr., said in his ruling the case
was brought by a lesbian and agnostic couple, Lori
and Lynn Barnes-Wallace, and their "Boy Scout-aged
sons."

They were supported by the American Civil Liberties
Union.

Jones determined the Boy Scouts are a religious
organization with a "religious purpose" because adult
leaders and youth members are required to believe in
a "formal deity" and to swear duty to God.

Gary Kreep, executive director of the San
Diego-based United States Justice Foundation, said he
is unaware of any other rulings that regard the Boy
Scouts as a religious organization.

While the group promotes belief in God, it represents
no particular denomination, he argued.

"If you look at the makeup of the Boy Scouts, they're
supported by the [Latter Day Saints], Protestant
churches, Catholics – you name it, you got it," he said.
"I don't think many of those people think the Boy
Scouts are religious."

Kreep said his group will file a brief in support of the
city if it appeals the decision.

'Discriminatory beliefs'

The judge noted the June 2000 U.S. Supreme Court
decision, Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, which ruled
the youth organization had a constitutionally based
right to discriminate on the basis of "sexual
orientation." James Dale was an Eagle Scout whose
adult membership in the Boy Scouts was revoked
when the organization learned that he was an
avowed homosexual and homosexual-rights activist.

Jones said in his ruling,
"After Dale, it is clear
that the Boy Scouts of
America's strongly held
private, discriminatory
beliefs are at odds with
values requiring
tolerance and inclusion
in the public realm, and
lawsuits like this are the
predictable fallout from
the Boy Scouts' victory before the Supreme Court."

The local Desert Pacific Council of the Boy Scouts has
used the northwest corner of Balboa Park, near the
San Diego Zoo, since 1940. It has leased the land for
$1 a year since 1957, and the city council approved a
25-year lease agreement at the end of 2001.

The judge noted the lease includes a
non-discrimination clause prohibiting, among other
things, discrimination based on religion and sexual
orientation.

However, the city points out the non-discrimination
clause applies only to the Boy Scouts regulation of
access to the property by non-Scouting individuals
and entities.

The Desert Pacific Council also has a lease agreement
on Fiesta Island in Mission Bay, but the judge did not
rule on that lease because none of the parties
provided evidence of the process by which it was
obtained. The Scouts have free use of a half-acre for
an aquatic center on the island through a lease that
expires in 2012.

The city and the Boy Scouts argued the agreements
are just two out of 100 leases of public land by the
city to non-profit groups to "advance the educational,
cultural and recreational interests of the city" without
regard to whether the lessees are religious.

The court, however, agreed with the plaintiffs that
the city's leases with other groups are irrelevant
because there is no evidence they were negotiated as
part of any leasing "program."

The Boy Scouts engaged in exclusive negotiations on
the Balboa land, the court said, as other groups did
not have the opportunity to compete.

Jordan Budd, legal director for the ACLU's San
Diego office, said there are only two solutions, the
San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Either the city
council must cancel its lease or the Scouts must change
its policy barring homosexuals and requiring belief in
God.

"We believe it is long past time for the city council to
end its affiliation with this discriminatory organization
and to keep open this public park land for the use of
all citizens of San Diego on a fair and equal basis and
not just those citizens preferred by the Boy Scouts,"
he said, according to the paper.

The city lost another dispute with the ACLU this
year.

In April, the ACLU successfully argued San Diego
gave an unfair advantage in its sale of city-owned Mt.
Soledad Park to a veterans group that sought to
maintain a cross on the land.

The Scouts noted in a statement the lease requires
them to spend $1.7 million over the next seven years
to upgrade Camp Balboa. The group also must pay
the city an annual administrative fee initially set at
$2,500.

The Desert Pacific Council said it spent $2 million to
build an aquatic center on an unused landfill on Fiesta
Island. The group also has significantly improved
Balboa Park with trees, water and power lines,
campsites, a swimming pool and other facilities.

The ACLU's Budd argued the Scouts investment in
these facilities could be worked out in a final court
order, the San Diego paper said.

"The fact that they've invested a substantial amount
of money in the park is not a justification for them to
occupy park land for free," Budd told the
Union-Tribune.

Budd said if the Scouts want a public subsidy and
free access to public park land, they must do what
virtually every other youth organization has done.

"The Girl Scouts, the Campfire Girls, the YMCA, the
YWCA – every other youth organization has
abandoned exclusive membership policies," he said.

In a statement, the local council, representing Scouts
in San Diego and Imperial counties, called the ruling a
disappointment. Spokeswoman Thyme Osborne told
WorldNetDaily she could not comment further.

The news release said: "We are weighing our legal
options and we expect that the order will ultimately
be reversed."

San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy issued a statement
through his deputy press secretary.

"Having been a Boy Scout as a child, I've always
supported the Boy Scouts here in San Diego," he said,
according to the Union-Tribune. "However, because
this is pending litigation, all questions should be
referred to the city attorney."

[Lil'freeper]

Would the court care to clarify which religion?

[mhking]

Religious group?!? Huh?

How's that work!?

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[Sofa King]

This ruling is pissing all over the 1st Amendment. Government persecution of religion is exactly what freedom of religion is supposed to stop.

[Buck W.]

"Judge Napoleon Jones, Jr."

Any relation to Cleopatra Jones??? Napoleon does have ties to Egypt, you know...

[RonF]

Jones determined the Boy Scouts are a religious organization with a "religious purpose" because adult leaders and youth members are required to believe in a "formal deity" and to swear duty to God.

If this is actually in the ruling, then Judge Jones is wrong on the facts and there's an excellent basis for reversal at the appeal level. The BSA has not and does not require membership in a formal religion, nor does it require belief in a "formal deity". More than one Eagle Scout has put his parents down on his Eagle application as his religious reference, where the parents have told the Council "We teach our son his religion at home", and for the latter, all I need say is that there are numerous Buddhists who are members of the BSA in good standing, and Buddhist temples sponsor Scout units. Membership in a formal religions denomination is not necessary to be a member of the BSA. All you need say is that "I believe in God" or "I believe in a higher power" and you will not be denied membership or advancement in the BSA.