HRC Monday Ad Calls for End to Discriminatory Boy Scout Ban on Gays

Two days before an expected vote, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) – the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization – will run a full-page ad in the Dallas Morning News on Monday calling on the leadership at Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to end its discriminatory policy prohibiting gay people from Scouting and adopt a national non-discrimination standard. Last week, BSA representatives indicated the organization would consider changing the policy to instead allow local sponsoring organizations to make their own decisions and potentially discriminate at the local level.

The ad, which will appear in the print edition of the newspaper Monday morning, encourages readers to call on the BSA board to enact a nationwide anti-discrimination policy.  Currently the organization’s official policy is to "not grant membership to individuals who are open or avowed homosexuals" as Scouts or adult Scout Leaders.

On Friday, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation announced more stringent criterion for its Corporate Equality Index. To receive a perfect score in the future, companies would have to prohibit philanthropic giving to non-religious organizations that have a written policy of anti-gay discrimination, or permit its chapters, affiliates, or troops to do so.

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