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Philly does something positive!
Way back in 1928, Philadelphia’s city council decided to allow the local chapter of the Boy Scouts to use a city-owned property, in perpetuity, as its headquarters. While the Boy Scouts had to pay for the building’s upkeep, its use was otherwise rent-free. This deal has continued since then, although folks started to get a little uppity about it a couple of years ago. See, the Boy Scouts have a policy of discrimination, ruled legal by the Supreme Court, where they refuse to allow gays to become scout leaders. In 2003, Philly raised a stink about this, because this policy goes against the city’s own anti-discrimination laws.
While the Boy Scouts assurred the city that they would setup policies matching Philadelphia’s, they have yet to do so. So recently, the city solicitor sent the Boy Scourts a letter basically letting them know that time was up. If the Scouts do not assure the city that there will not be anymore discrimination, they will be evicted unless they start paying fair-market rent for their headquarters building. While one would assume the Scouts are in a tizzy over this, they’ve said they’re not going to offer any official comment until they hear from their lawyers.
The Boy Scouts can’t really be surprised by this turn of events, right? After all, how they gonna’ expect to be allowed to discriminate against gay men in the city of brotherly love?
