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Area Boy Scouts leaders noncommittal on gay scoutmasters

While the president of the Boy Scouts of America made national news Thursday by saying that the organization should allow gay scoutmasters, local scout leaders were noncommittal about the idea.

The former Philadelphia headquarters of the Boy Scouts, where the statue “The Ideal Scout” stood until 2013. (AP)
The former Philadelphia headquarters of the Boy Scouts, where the statue “The Ideal Scout” stood until 2013. (AP)Read more

While the president of the Boy Scouts of America made national news Thursday by saying that the organization should allow gay scoutmasters, local scout leaders were noncommittal about the idea.

Daniel Templar, scout executive for the Cradle of Liberty Council, said his organization would abide by whatever decision was made nationally.

"I'm not going to agree or disagree with those statements," Templar said of the remarks by Robert Gates that "we must deal with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be," and that "any other alternative will be the end of us as a national movement."

Templar added: "I really don't have an opinion on that."

Robert Hayes, assistant scout executive for the Garden State Council, which represents about 10,000 scouts in South Jersey, expressed a similar sentiment.

"It doesn't matter what I think," he said.

The Garden State Council will follow whatever policy is decided nationally, Hayes said.

The Cradle of Liberty Council, which represents 17,000 scouts in Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Delaware Counties, was embroiled in a years-long legal battle with the City of Philadelphia over the national organization's right to exclude gays.

The council's headquarters were in a city-owned building near Logan Square, and the city wanted to evict the Boy Scouts for violating the city's nondiscrimination policy.

A federal jury in 2010 ruled in favor of the Boy Scouts, citing the organization's First Amendment rights. The city and the council settled the case in 2013. The council is now headquartered in Wayne.

Mark Segal, publisher of Philadelphia Gay News, welcomed Gates' comments.

"It's a great sign," Segal said.

Segal recalled that Gates, who served as secretary of defense under Presidents Obama and George W. Bush, was "good in the military," taking steps to prepare the armed forces for the Obama administration's repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that barred openly gay personnel. The policy was repealed in 2010 and phased out the following year.

Segal disagreed with Gates on one point: allowing religious organizations that sponsor scout troops to continue their prohibitions against gay scoutmasters.

Segal likened that stance to saying a church should be able to discriminate based on race.

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