Eviction looms over Philly Scouts; legal action unclear

Eviction looms over Philly Scouts; legal action unclear

A conservative alternative to the ACLU says unless there is successful legal action, the city of Philadelphia is going to evict the Boy Scouts from the downtown headquarters they have occupied since 1929.

The Philadelphia Human Relations Commission has ruled that banning homosexuals from membership violates the city's fair practices ordinance, so the city has told the Cradle of Liberty Council it must vacate its office by May 31. However, the Supreme Court has consistently ruled that, as a private organization, the Boy Scouts of America have the constitutional right to determine their own membership policy, which prohibits homosexuals from participating in Scouting.

Hans Ziegler, a senior fellow at the American Civil Rights Union and a former Eagle Scout, hopes the Scouts will fight the eviction order.

"I suspect there may be some legal action. I would hope that there would be because this is obviously counter to what the city council intended 80 years ago when they gave the Boy Scouts the headquarters building -- the property -- in perpetuity. And the Boy Scouts have built that building on their own; they've kept it up on their own at the cost of millions of dollars," says Ziegler.

In addition, says the ACRU spokesman, the Scouts have contributed "thousands and thousands" of community service hours to the people of Philadelphia "in a way that the city itself could never do."

While the Boy Scouts have been silent about what legal action they might take, Ziegler notes they have made it clear they will not be giving in to demands to change their traditional membership policy that has been rooted in the Boy Scout oath, which calls for 'duty to God' and being 'morally straight.'