FROM THE EDITOR: A Heartwarming Story of a Cub Scout and Our New President Underscores a Study in Contrasts.

Scouts will be only one of the many groups treated more fairly by President George Bush than they would have been by a President Al Gore. Gore made it clear that he would try to force the Scouts to accept homosexual scoutmasters (See, for example, the analysis of Gore's position on the June Supreme Court decision that was done by former U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese, the Chairman of the Scouting Legal Defense Fund. It is posted on our Web site here.)

An Eagle Scout honor guard was booed and harassed by the delegates who nominated Al Gore in Los Angeles. Not only were there no apologies from him or anyone else, but a spokesman defended the delegates' right to show their displeasure in this way over the Scouts excluding homosexual scoutmasters!

Contrast this with the experience of Cub Scout Michael Swisher and his family with then- candidate Bush:

"Our family went to a Bush campaign rally in Arkansas on the day before the election. It was quite wet and cold but we didn't give up. My nine-year-old son, Michael, was in his Cub uniform. He also uses a wheel chair. While we waited in line to get into the rally we were overrun by people when they first opened the doors, even though we had been there among the first in line.

A secret service agent noticed what was happening and came into the crowd, took Michael and said "please follow me. "He promptly shouted for the crowd to part and back up if they wanted in. We soon found ourselves inside at the very front below the speaker's platform. We were as happy as could be when another agent came to us and asked us if we would like to be on the platform with Gov. Bush. We did not need time to even think about that. He spoke to someone on stage who said there wasn't room, but he insisted we be placed up front directly behind the speaker's podium, which we were.

My only words spoken to Gov. Bush because of time were "Please don't forget our scouts!" He nodded to us and said he would not forget."

Michael's story is just one of many shared with us in the hundreds of e-mails we received after our first e-newsletter a couple of weeks ago. They have been extremely useful in putting the attack on Scouting into perspective.

After their overwhelming defeat in the U.S. House of Representatives of a bill to revoke the Scouts' national charter, it was clear that those groups attacking Scouting were shifting their focus from the national to the local level. The defeat of Al Gore merely accelerated that shift. What we had not realized until we heard from so many of you was how widespread these attacks are at the troop, school district, local United Way and scout council level. We give you a sense of that in this newsletter.

At the same time, it also is clear from your e-mails that good people around the country are successfully defending Scouting in their local areas. We summarize some of these efforts for you as well. They should be an inspiration to us all.

Finally, thanks to all of you for the many expressions of support and encouragement. Please continue to let us know of problems in your local areas and give us any suggestions to make this newsletter more useful to you.

Peter Ferrara
Editor

For more information about the Scouting Legal Defense Fund please search our Web site, www.defendscouting.com.

Please forward this newsletter to others who are interested in Scouting.

WHAT'S HAPPENING TO SCOUTING AROUND THE COUNTRY�

--More School Districts Are Cutting Off Scouts

Chappel Hill-Carrboro city schools in North Carolina will cut all ties with the Scouts unless the Scouts change their policy to exclude homosexual leaders. (see article here.)

The Broward County, Florida, School Board voted to evict over 60 Boy Scout troops and Cub packs from meeting in the county schools because the Scouts will not agree to their policy of non-discrimination on sexual orientation. (No electronic article available)

--Homosexual groups are in the vanguard of efforts to force school districts to drop Scouts

Homosexual groups nationwide are in the forefront of the effort to pressure local governments and school districts with policies that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation to drop support of local Scouts. This article, which appeared in a Michigan statewide homosexual publication, clearly illustrates this tactic, in this case targeting the Ann Arbor school district. (see article here.)

--But there are successes�

Public support convinces Michigan school district to continue supporting the scouts.

Strong public support of scouting convinced the Plymouth-Canton school district to refuse a demand to withdraw support of their local Scout groups. (see article here.)

Software giant Novell forced to back off policy withdrawing support for the Scouts.

Under pressure from investors, employees and customers, within a week of announcing that it would no longer contribute to the Boy Scouts, software giant Novell had to back off that policy. (see article here.)

The Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee refutes charges it is discriminating against the Boy Scouts.

The organizing committee for the 2002 Winter Games, joined by the local scout councils, has refuted charges originally made in an Internet publication that it was banning Boy Scouts from volunteering to help with the games. (see article here.)

--Meanwhile, more local United Way organizations are dropping or trying to withdraw support.

More and more local United Way organizations are either considering or actually adopting requirements that any charitable organization receiving funding through them certify that it does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Since local Scout councils refuse to do this, they are losing or risk losing funding.

However, in some cases, pressure from institutional donors and the public is forcing them to reverse or rethink their actions.

Florida-Heart of Florida United Way, serving the Orlando area, is facing the defection of large donors and pressure from local residents after adopting a certification requirement. One of three county governments in its service area is only the latest threatening to drop the United Way.

Michigan-The United Way of Allegan County in western Michigan has withdrawn support of the Gerald R. Ford Scout Council based on their policy excluding homosexual scoutmasters. Other local United Ways are maintaining support. (see article here.)

North Carolina-The United Way of the Winston-Salem area threatened to cut about $400,000 in funding to the Old Hickory Scout Council if they did not sign an agreement not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. The Council refused. Threats from the public to stop contributing to the United Way forced them to back down and continue funding the Scout council. (No electronic article available.)

Washington-United Way of Whatcom County, serving the Bellingham, Washington area, overwhelmingly adopted a no sexual orientation discrimination policy requirement for recipients of funding. The Mount Baker Scout Council is a partner agency that will now likely lose funding. (No electronic article available.)

--And, Some Thoughtful Commentary on Scouting�

"Boy Scouts in Need of the Legion's Support." Joseph E. Caouette, National Americanism Commission Chairman of the American Legion, gives a ringing endorsement of Scouting and calls on local Legion Posts to help local Scout units which are forced out of schools and other public facilities. (see article here.)

"The United Way Should be the Last One's Criticizing the Boy Scouts." Detroit News columnist Peter Waldmeir comments of several attacks on Scouting in Michigan and suggests that the United Way, which was involved in a major scandal in the early 1990's may be an inappropriate organization to be making moral prescriptions especially against the Scouts. (see article here.)