After a state Senate committee meeting earlier today, it looks like California may be the first state to take action against the Boy Scouts of America and other nonprofit groups that do not welcome gays and transexuals as members.
Senate bill 323 , introduced by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), aims to deny tax-exempt status to discriminatory nonprofit organizations, requiring them to pay corporate taxes on donations and other revenue from fundraising. After being passed through The Senate Governance and Finance Committee by a 5-2 vote, the bill is now headed for the Appropriations Committee.
It’s sad that legislation is required to help force the Boy Scouts out of a dated admissions policy, especially since they’ve been using California tax payers’ money for decades to promote their anti-LGBT agenda. Aren’t they supposed to promote “giving back” to the community?
“The Boy Scouts provide a critical service for our youth,” Sen. Lara said in the committee hearing this morning. “But all we’re saying is that everybody should have the opportunity to participate in such a great organization.”
But the threat of legislation may have already knocked some sense into the Boy Scouts of America, according to Rick Conk, a former Boy Scouts president now on the organization’s executive committee.
Conk ensured the Senate committee that the organization “embraces this community,” and a change in policy is already being considered. “I think the process has begun and I think it will end up where it should end up,” he said. “When Scouting tries to renavigate it takes a while, and Scouting is in the process of doing that.”
The Scouts’ National Council is planning to meet next month in Texas to discuss further action.
Ken
Since Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts, was gay, Does that mean they have to include gays or disband?
doug105
Don’t they still ban atheists and other non Christians?
GreatGatsby2011
@doug105: Yes, they do.
tdx3fan
I love this attempt, but according to the SCOTUS the boy scouts and any other private club have the right to discriminate. Therefore, if California is denying their tax exempt status when they are in deed a not for profit then it is California that is illegally discriminating not the boy scouts, and do not think for a moment they will just roll over and accept that.
Will L
@tdx3fan: You talk like you’re full of shit.
kevininbuffalo
@doug105:
Scouts have to believe in God, they don’t have be Christian.
erasure25
@tdx3fan: You’re obvious not a lawyer. The State has every right not to give tax exempt status (ie, special rights) to the organizations that do not comply with State non-discrimination laws. Taxpayers of California should not be funding private organizations that use their money against them. Just as the state and many cities require business that do business in their jurisdictions to comply with non-discrimination laws, the same can be applied here.
Furthermore, why do right wingers rail against liberal organizations and call them “takers?” Clearly, if the private Boy Scouts do not want to comply with State non-discrimination laws, then should stop being takers and pay their taxes themselves instead of taking our money.
kennetho9322
The Scouts of Canada have had same sex inclusion for years! So nice to hear that you Americans may, one day, catch-up with the rest of the planet. Cheers!
DOFEK
To all of us HOMOS, get GUNS, get ready! we will need it sooner then you think. We need to form HOMOS mafia, so no one will touch us!. AdamHomo
tdx3fan
As has been pointed out… I am not a lawyer, but after doing some research, this is what this would really mean…
The state income tax rate for corporations in California is 8.84 percent. That income tax rate would ONLY apply to money that is collected in California and California does not have the power to reject a national 501(c) allowance.
If you think the national organization of the Boy Scouts is going to run scared from paying 8.84 percent on its income from California then you must surely be kidding yourself. More likely, they will pull their program from California.
tdx3fan
@kennetho9322: Canada is not the rest of the planet. The vast majority of the countries do not have gay inclusion. However, the United States is also very slow to catch up with the actual leading nations of the world on this topic.
Spike
Oh please, they will continue to discriminate, the BSA is pretty much run by the mormon taliban, they just won’t have an official policy that supports discrimination.
Cam
Does pulling their tax exempt status also mean that people donating to the scouts would NOT be able to write off the donations as charitable giving?
If THAT is the case, then the Scouts are in trouble. CA. has a huge number of scout troops there through the Mormon and Catholic churches.
Spike
@Cam: Another problem this creates for the BSA involves their use of Govt./Military facilities for their summer camping Jamborees, currently, free of charge.
BP historian
Robert Baden Powell was not gay. Recent documentation proves that; Tim Jeal is wrong in his biography when he thought BP “might be a repressed Homosexual”. Documents thoroughly reviewed over the last 7 years have dispelled that notion. This is the consensus of the top 4 BP historians in the world.
However, it was also proven that he was not homophobic either. In fact he was well more tolerant that those of his day on the question of “normalcy” as it was considered in his day. He was never at odds with it or any sexual orientation as long as it wasn’t injected in scouting. He simply felt that the issue belongs at home with family, one’s own value system and code of conduct.
That’s the crux of the BSA issue. To all my gay friends, we will get there. Other NSA’s (other National Scout Associations have full inclusion (the most vocal and largest is the U.K. Association.
It simply isn’t an issue. Kids just wanna be kids, and have fun in Scouting and all of this turmoil(on both sides) is counter productive to the real base line ethos of Scouting; which is- and always has been- a personal self-journey through the living of the Scout Oath and Law.
The Mormons’ have forgotten that, by trying to morph Scouting into something it isn’t- or never was designed to be. The same is true on the other side, too. Scouting is not the place to judge, rather to accept each and EVERY BROTHER, as a Scout- regardless of creed, class, religIon or color.. (BP’s own words in the definition of “A SCOUT IS FRIENDLY”.
APPARENTLY THE MORMONS FORGOT THAT. And when BP wrote those words, he meant EVERYONE.
Those who want to interject sexuality definition into Scouting are totally wrong. FROM ANY perspective. But it is stupid to think that gay kids or parents should be excluded. As a scoutmaster, in the middle of the USA, with 168 scouts, and 96 adults, well- we simply don’t care. It’s not an issue for us, nor for 99.9% of all Scout Troops.
It’s only an issue when someone WANTS to make it an issue. And those LEADERS who want to try to deny a kid simply because he is guy- should be kicked out! (And are in our troop!).
They have then made THEIR desires as an issue, and are not living by the Scout Law. Simple. Period.
But it works both ways, folks. We simply need to tell the Mormons THAT they don’t control or lead the interpretation of the Scout Oath and Law. BP fought long and hard to keep Scouting NON POLTICAL.
I WOULD ASK THAT everyone soften the rhetoric and harshness; and get behind the kids and the local units. The BSA has enough ground swell where the right change will happened. Maybe not as fast as some hope. But remember, ultimately, Scouting is a MOVEMENT lead by youth. They will get it right!