Boy Scouts may lose lease in Philadelphia for anti-gay policy

The city of Philadelphia may require the Boy Scouts of America's Cradle of Liberty Council to affirm that it will not discriminate against openly gay people or else lose its rent-free headquarters.

The group has made its headquarters on a half-acre owned by the city in the upscale Philadelphia Art Museum area since 1928, when the city council voted to allow the Scouts to use the property rent-free "in perpetuity." The Scouts pay for building upkeep. The City Council passed a resolution Thursday that City Solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr. said was a last step needed to end the Scouts' lease.

Jeff Jubelirer, a spokesman for the Cradle of Liberty Council, said any decision probably would involve the leadership of the scout's National Council, and he did not know how scout officials would react.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that as a private group, scouts have a First Amendment right to bar gays from membership. The Cradle of Liberty Council adopted a nondiscrimination policy in 2003 but was ordered to revoke it by the National Council, which said local councils had no right to deviate from national rules that bar participation by anyone who is openly gay.
The Cradle of Liberty Council, the third-largest scouting group in the country. It has been battling with the city for more than three years over the policy, which like the national Scouts organization forbids gays from being leaders. In 2003, the council in Philadelphia said it would adopt a nondiscrimination policy on gays. However, weeks later the group dismissed an 18-year-old Scout who publicly acknowledged he was gay.