Scouts Divided

The Texas leadership may have misjudged a cultural climate that is now more like "Dawson's Creek" than "Mayberry R.F.D." For the first time in 20 years, Gallup last month reported that the majority of Americans consider homosexuality "an acceptable alternative lifestyle." Polls show that more Americans today than ever before know someone gay. For them, the formal scouting position has caused excruciating conflicts. Following the ruling last summer, Dena Jaeger, 41, whose sister is a lesbian, took the uniform she wore as a dedicated committee chairwoman for Pack 78 in Des Moines, Iowa, wadded it into a plastic bag and stashed it in the garage. But her husband, Don, 41, and son Christopher, 9, are still members. "I wrestle with the hypocrisy, frankly," Don says. In Oak Park, Ill., 54-year-old John Mayes resolved to remove Carter, 9, from his Cub Scout den after summer camp last month, in memory of his college roommate, a "self-described screaming queen." "Being African-American, I am sensitive to discrimination," he says. But so far, he has not had the courage to break the news to his son, a special-needs kid who blossomed at camp. "This is getting harder and harder for me," Mayes says. "What's it really about? Is it about me and my principles? And do I do this to my son, in the name of principles?"

Increasingly, local backers are finding themselves at similarly difficult junctures. About 44 of the most affluent chapters of United Way--one of scouting's biggest funders--have blocked additional support or changed allocations in order to comply with their own nondiscrimination policies; a few others have augmented funding, in keeping with their community's standards. Even the business community has weighed in. Merrill Lynch, Textron and Procter & Gamble steadfastly support Scouts; Levi Strauss, Wells Fargo, Fleet Bank and CVS, along with the Philadelphia Foundation and Communications Workers of America, have taken steps to distance themselves.

It goes on: the cities of Tucson, Ariz.; Chicago; San Francisco; San Diego, and San Jose, Calif., have ended free use for Scout troop meetings in public parks, schools and other municipal sites. Often, they have had no choice--ordinances and policies long in place prohibit public support of anti-gay discrimination there. In Miami a few weeks ago, Dade County school officials halted sponsorship and in-class recruiting, joining school districts in Illinois, Massachusetts and Minnesota. A group called the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network says that at least 4,418 schools nationwide have ended preferential relationships with Scouts.

Coming to scouting's defense, last month 51 senators voted to strip federal funds from any school that bans Scouts--a measure that is unlikely to survive in conference. At the same time, 49 voted the other direction, a repudiation of Scouts that would have been unthinkable before the court case. "We're slipping out of the mainstream of thought," says a very worried Mike Harrison, past chairman of the board for the Orange County Council in Costa Mesa, Calif.

America turned to scouting, a new quasi-military British program, in 1910, during a period of widespread concern that middle-class schoolboys were losing their "manly character." Its philosophy was described by founder Sir Robert Baden-Powell as a blend of outdoor comradeship and "boyology." Today, 66 senators and 205 congressmen are former Scouts, and 3 million kids are members, finding in Scouts a meaningful alternative to afternoons spent with Game Boys and PlayStations. Between 1997 and the end of last year, this army in shorts completed 214 million hours of volunteer work.

According to a strict written policy, adult leaders are not to discuss sex with their boys, not even to answer questions. Until James Dale's suit wended its way to the Supreme Court, many Scouts thought the same applied to homosexuality. In fact, scouting in Canada and elsewhere has long had specific nondiscrimination policies. Dale was a 19-year-old Eagle Scout and unpaid assistant scoutmaster back in 1990 when, in an unrelated forum, he addressed a conference of high-school teachers on his struggles as a gay youth growing up in New Jersey. After his comments were reported in a local newspaper, Dale was fired by the Scouts. He sued and eventually won reinstatement by the state's top court, which found his constitutional rights were violated. The Boy Scouts of America appealed successfully to the Supreme Court.