Tell the CA Legislature: "End Tax Exempt Status for Anti-Gay Boy Scouts of America"

Please join me in asking the California Legislature to pass SB 323, ending tax breaks for youth groups like Boy Scouts of America that discriminate against members based on their sexual orientation.

I grew up in the Boy Scout tradition. I started out as a Cub Scout, transitioned through Webelos, and ended my Boy Scout journey as a Life Scout, one rank below Eagle. My closest friends were other scouts. Scouting stands for the finest qualities of humanity: self-reliance, creativity, and an appreciation of nature. Most of all, we were taught how to act as responsible, respectful citizens.

This is why the Boy Scouts’ continued policy of excluding members based on their sexual orientation is so upsetting to me. It flies in the face of the very values that the scouting tradition professes to teach. As a straight ally, I can't sit idle while the current leaders of the Boy Scouts disgrace this once-proud American institution with their personal bigotry.

Boy Scouts of America needs to do the right thing and change their policy to allow openly gay members. Right now, SB 323, sponsored by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Los Angeles) aims to give the Boy Scouts a nudge in the right direction by eliminating tax exemptions for groups that practice discrimination.

Please ask the California Legislature to help pass SB 323. California should lead on this issue if Congress won’t. Ending this tax break is the right thing to do, for the Boy Scouts and any other youth group in California which discriminates against members based on sexual orientation.