On May 23rd, The Human Rights Campaign derided House passage of an
anti-gay amendment sponsored by Rep. Van Hilleary, R-Tenn. This amendment,
which was approved by a voice vote, purports to prohibit federal funding to
schools that deny access of public school facilities to the Boy Scouts,
despite the fact that the scouts have never lost their ability to meet in
school facilities.
“This was an empty, mean-spirited gesture that accomplished nothing
because the law already dictates that the Boy Scouts have equal access to
school facilities,” said HRC Political Director Winnie Stachelberg. “The
battleground now shifts to the Senate, where we will work to defeat the
Helms amendment.”
HRC will continue to fight the amendment sponsored by Sen. Jesse Helms,
R-N.C., and rally support against the measure. The organization has sent out
an action alert to its members, asking them to urge their Senators to oppose
this amendment. Additionally, a letter signed by several key organizations
that opposed both measures was sent to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Groups that signed on to the letter are: the Association of School
Administrators, American Association of University Women, American
Psychological Association, Americans for Democratic Action, Anti-Defamation
League, Council of the Great City Schools, Leadership Conference on Civil
Rights, Myra Sadker Advocates, the National Association of School
Psychologists, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National
Council of Jewish Women, National Education Association, National Federation
of Filipino American Associations, National PTA, National Rural Education
Association, National School Boards Association, National Women’s Law
Center, New York State Education Department, NOW Legal Defense and Education
Fund, People For the American Way, Unitarian Universalist Association of
Congregations, and the United Church of Christ Justice and Witness
Ministries.
To gain support for his amendment, Hilleary sent out a letter that
mistakenly said the Boy Scouts were routinely denied access to schools. To
clear up this campaign of misinformation, a “Dear Colleague” letter was sent
by Reps. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., and Connie Morella, R-Md.
“The Hilleary Dear Colleague might lead you to believe that such
exclusion is lawful and commonplace and it is not,” said the letter sent by
Morella and Delahunt. “A selective denial of equal access is unlawful. And
no school district has ever successfully barred the Boy Scouts from using
school facilities that are open to all.”
Helms said on the Senate floor last week that “radical militants” were
trying to ban the Boy Scouts from campuses. He also said they [gay
activists] “demand that everybody else’s principles must be cast aside in
order to protect the right of homosexual conduct.”
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