Boy Scouts Sue City

The Boy Scouts have sued the city for attempting to kick the local council out of its building near the Parkway. For the uninitiated: Those who do their duty to do their best to God and their country also don’t allow gays to do any of that in their little club, so the city decided it was kicking the Cradle of Liberty Council out of its 22nd and Winter building (which the city leases to the Scouts for one dollar a year.)

The Scouts’ lawsuit says the city leases property to about 100 groups with membership criteria for under $2,000 a year, without any attempt to kick them out of their properties.

The lawsuit mentions the Roman Catholic Church of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which the suit says has paid a nominal rent for a church building in Pennypack Park since 1935; Zion Baptist Church, which pays $25 a year to lease three parcels of recreational land for the Clara Baldwin Home for seniors; and Women for Greater Philadelphia and the Colonial Dames of America, which have free perpetual leases for historic mansions in Fairmount Park. “This city allows numerous organizations to use city-owned property and does not necessarily refuse them based on restrictions on membership,” said Center City lawyer Jason P. Gosselin, who filed the suit on behalf of the Cradle of Liberty Council.

City Solicitor Shelley R. Smith said she believes the difference between the Boy Scouts and the other groups that lease city land or buildings is that the other groups do not discriminate in the social services they provide. Smith said you cannot be a Boy Scout if you are openly gay or an atheist: “If we find that these other groups are doing that, we will take the appropriate action.”

You got that, atheists? You gotta get down to the courthouse and file all your complaints against the Colonial Dames of America.

In related news, Congress is having a fundraiser for the Boy Scouts. Up to $3.5 million! Update: And Ron Paul voted for the bill. He secretly loves the federal reserve!

Boy Scouts sue city in building dispute [Inquirer]

Idiot Hates Gays, Writes Column About It

There’s a short opinion piece in the current edition of the Northeast Times about the ongoing saga of the Boy Scouts and that building the city is probably going to kick them out of. The national Boy Scouts organization prohibits gays from joining their little club. This is the group’s right, of course, but the city also has the right to stop giving them free prime real estate on the Parkway since they won’t let Bruce and Lance into the club.

The opinion piece is by Robert Knight. He’s the director of the Culture and Media Institute, which is a conservative group that writes about how the evil liberals in Hollywood and the media are going to make sure this country is overrun by gays and Muslims (who are great friends, you know!) and Mexicans and whoever else isn’t Christian.

Now, Knight is attempting to convince you the Scouts should stay in the building. The column contains all the normal lies — all homosexuals are pedophiles, not many priests molested kids actually, homosexuals shouldn’t be role models, etc. — and preaching to the choir, but the intro is like a bad joke I’d reject:

Philadelphia has big city problems. The murder rate is on the rise, and gangs make some areas unsafe even in the daytime. It’s no secret that fatherless, undisciplined boys are the main reason the streets are deadly.

So what is the city doing about it? Let’s imagine for a moment that we’re in a Philadelphia City Council discussion.

“How about a crackdown on gangs? Or a crackdown on drug dealers?”

“Nah. Those people shoot back. I’ve got it! Let’s persecute the Boy Scouts! They won’t give the police any trouble.”

“Yeah, this will be a great way to pay back those gay groups for donating to our campaigns. The media will love us, too. Watch how they’ll frame this: ‘Enlightened Officials Reign in Hateful, Bigoted Boy Scouts!’ Good for us! Now, let’s take a Starbucks break!”

Ha ha! What a knee-slapper!

“Now, Daniel,” you might be saying here. “This sort of sounds like some sort of post you would make when you’re really stretching to find a joke.” Agreed! The only problem is, I am trying to make you laugh (and probably failing, if I did it this way); if you don’t laugh, it has very little consequence for me except maybe a thread or two on Phillyblog where they write mean things about me and oh no whatever will I do!

“Now, Daniel,” you might be saying here. “Isn’t it a little odd that the Boy Scouts want to ban gays. Aren’t the Boy Scouts pretty much the gayest group imaginable already?” Hey, I make the jokes here!

City of Brotherly Love hates the Boy Scouts [Northeast Times]

The First Philly.com Comment Ever That Gets It Right

While we’re on the subject of comments to stories on Philly.com, you should probably also take a look at the comments to the Boy Scout eviction article. Most of them are what you’d expect, with the added bonus of people saying that John Street can’t do this because there are people in the city dying. Because the mayor can only concentrate on one issue at a time, people. (Hmm. What if he can? Let’s get back to you on this one.)

We’d like to point out, however, the best comment about the whole situation:

Well played, “Slim.” Well played.

Comments: Scouts will fight for use of building [Philly.com]

Prime Piece Of Real Estate To Be Gay-Free No More

Yesterday, the Fairmount Park Commission voted and agreed with the Street Administration’s decision to force the Boy Scouts to pay market value rent for their building or be evicted.

Currently, the city gives the Boy Scouts Cradle of Liberty Council free use of the building, which the council built as its headquarters in 1928. The Scouts, of course, can allow whoever they want into their group, but if they’re not going to let in gays, then the city doesn’t want to give them free rent — as it doesn’t jive with the city’s nondiscrimination policy.

While the Cradle of Liberty Council did agree to nondiscrimination policy, soon after they adopted it the group kicked out an 18-year-old Eagle Scout who came out. The city said, “Hey, I thought we had a deal,” and so last week finally sent a letter to the Council notifying the group of its decision.

A spokesman for the national organization said that “[t]he policy isn’t going anywhere,” affirming his group’s duties to God, country and queer-hatin’. Council spokesman Jeff Jubelirer said he wasn’t aware of any Fairmount Park Commission vote taking place yesterday, and wondered why LGBT advocates were there and knew about it.

Fo his part, City Solicitor Romulo Diaz says the city doesn’t want to evict the scouts, which I think is a tremendously short-sighted way of thinking. Uhh, hello, 22nd and Winter streets? That’s prime real estate, right off Logan Circle! If the city’s not interested in getting a piece of that action, they clearly don’t have their heads screwed on right.

Scouts will fight for use of building [Inquirer]
Parks vote agrees on Scouts [Daily News]
Yesterday: Pretty Gay Group To Be Evicted For Anti-Gay Stance

Pretty Gay Group To Be Evicted For Anti-Gay Stance

The Street Administration announced recently that it plans to evict the Boy Scouts council from its rent-free headquarters in Center City unless the organization stops discriminating against gays.

In a letter written by City Solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr. to the head of the council, the city said it would not allow the organization to use the building at 22nd and Winter unless the local council allows gays into its group. The city plans to either evict the scout council or charge them market value rent.

In addition to doing their duty to God and their country, the Boy Scouts of America also ban gays from being scouts or scoutmasters. And naturally, a spokesman for the Cradle of Liberty Council does his duty to change the subject when asked about it:

“With an epidemic of gun violence taking the lives of Philadelphia’s children every day,” Jubelirer said, “it is ironic the administration chose this time to destroy programming that services 40,000 children in the city.”

Yep. 40,000 children. But if you’re a boy who happens to like boys, well, the Scouts would rather have you gunned down, thank you very much.

City poised to evict Boy Scouts council [Inquirer]