ACLU Continues Its Ongoing War Against Boy Scouts

David Horowitz is calling attention to the latest attempt by the ACLU to "cut the Boy Scouts of America off at the knees". According to Horowitz, the ACLU uses its multi-million dollar budget to financially cripple the Boy Scouts via numerous lawsuits, the latest of which is being waged in California.

At the center of the ongoing suit by the ACLU against the Boy Scouts of America is property owned by the city of San Diego which is leased by the Scouts. The Scouts leased the property, a public park on the northwest corner of Balboa Island, since 1940. A new 25-year lease, written in 2001, included a non-discrimination clause prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and religion.

The plaintiffs, a lesbian couple and their two "boy scout aged sons", supported by the ACLU, alleged in their suit, Barnes-Wallace vs. BSA, City of San Diego, and the BSA Desert Pacific Council, that the Scouts were a religious organization and that the Scout's oath to God "violated their rights".

"On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight." --Boy Scouts of America Oath

The Scouts, in return for the lease agreement with the city, maintained the park for a small visitor's fee. The suit, which sought to bar the Scouts from using the property, alleged the Constitution forbade the practice on the grounds that the Boy Scouts is a religious institution. In 2003, U.S. District Court Judge Napoleon Jones Jr. ruled in favor of the lesbian couple, ruling that the Scouts were indeed a religious group.

In 2004, the Department of Justice filed an Amicus brief defending the Scouts right to use the city of San Diego's public lands. The brief argued that the Scouts were not a religious organization and "its operation of a city-owned property does not violate the Constitution's prohibition on the establishment of religion".

"Quite simply, the Boy Scouts of America is not a church, and canoeing, kayaking and swimming are not religious activities," said R. Alexander Acosta, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "Boy Scouts should not be prohibited from using public lands on an equal basis with other youth groups."

Horowitz and his Freedom Center are asking for contributions to the Center's Scouts Defense Fund of the Individual Rights Foundation. The Freedom Center's "legal arm", the Individual Rights Foundation, has been a "friend of the court" in regards to helping the Scouts with legal advice. The San Diego lesbian-ACLU case is ongoing, the United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit recently sent questions about the case to the California Supreme Court.

Horowitz noted that Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld in his dissent, pointed out that "...none of the plaintiffs has suffered any injury or has any standing to sue."

Horowitz also noted that "regardless of that fact, the plaintiffs are able to do whatever they would like because the ACLU is footing the bill!"

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