“They’re free to exercise their First Amendment rights…. What they’re not free to do is get a benefit from the city while violating our policy.”
Philadelphia City Solicitor Shelley Smith responding to a law suit by Cradle of Liberty Council, a Boy Scout chapter that currently pays $1 a year for a space that is said to be worth $200,000. At the heart of the matter is the gay-excluding policy of the national parent organization, Boy Scouts of America. The local chapter is reported to have rescinded a 2003 nondiscrimination policy because BSoA balked. Compromise language to bar “unlawful discrimination” took it’s place. Cradle of Liberty Council claims that it’s being illegally censored and singled out. (Centre Daily Times)
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