Philly Boots Scouts Over Gays

City won't give anti-homosexual group $1 lease on city property
Posted Dec 6, 2007 2:25 PM CST
Philly Boots Scouts Over Gays
A 2000 Supreme Court decision affirmed the Boy Scouts' right as a private group to reject homosexual members, but Philadelphia has decided it won%u2019t make its citizens subsidize it by affording the BSA a $1-a-year lease.   (Getty Images)

Philadelphia will evict the Boy Scouts from a municipal building known as the group’s birthplace, citing its exclusion of gay members, the New York Times reports. The city requires renters to put nondiscriminatory language into leases; the BSA has fought the stipulation at the building where it's held the $1-a-year lease since 1928. A deadline passed this week; eviction is set for June 1.

A 2000 Supreme Court decision affirmed the Boy Scouts' right as a private group to reject homosexual members, but Philly won’t make its citizens subsidize it. The city council pegs the yearly rent for the iconic Center City building at $200,000; the Scouts say a summer camp for 800 needy children would be the casualty if they chose to pay the hike.

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