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Gay man's firing costs Boy Scouts $60,000
July 2, 1994 Boston Globe, P. 23
NEW HAVEN [Conn.] -- A decision by the Quinnipiac Council of Boy Scouts to fire a scout leader who is gay has cost the organization $60,000.
The board
of directors of the United Way of Greater New Haven voted 20-4 this week to withhold the money it planned to give the scouts next year. Directors said the scouts did not follow the United Way's anti-discrimination policies.
William Colwell, president of the Quinnipiac Council, plans to appeal the decision at the United Way's July 27 meeting. "I hope they will reconsider," he said.
In December, the council ousted David
Knapp, 67, a respected volunteer scout leader from Guilford who had a 25-year affiliation with the organization. There were no complaints of misconduct against Knapp, a decorated former Eagle Scout who realized he was gay at age 50.
"I feel very sad that this has come about," Knapp said. "I would like to see it grow, expand and get more money, but they have indicated they have no intention of changing the policy that is very cruel and
insidious as well as unfair, unjust and stupid."
The United Way last year asked its affiliates to abide by its rules, including an anti-discrimination policy.
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United Way says it won't help Scouts
Boston Globe, July 29, 1994, page 29:
NEW HAVEN -- The local United Way has upheld its decision to stop funding the Boy Scouts because its policy of banning homosexuals is discriminatory.
The chapter decided in June to stop funding the Hamden-based Quinnipiac Council of the Boy Scouts on Jan. 1. The council ejected volunteer Scout leader David W. Knapp last winter for being gay.
The Greater New Haven United Way's board of directors voted this week to deny the Scouts' appeal, saying its policy was not in compliance with the United Way's anti-discrimination policy.
The council, composed of 250 Cub packs, Scout troops and Explorer posts in the area, got $60,000 annually from the United Way.
Knapp, 67, is an Eagle Scout who was a professional Scout
administrator for nine years before leaving for a career selling textbooks. He returned to the Scouts a few years ago as a volunteer at the request of Scout officials.
United Way: Boy Scouts should reconsider ban on homosexuals
January 6, 2000 - WVIT NBC Channel 30
DANBURY, Conn.- The United Way has asked a regional council of the Boy Scouts of America to take another look at its policy banning gays.
In a letter to the Connecticut Yankee Council, the United Way of Northern Fairfield County said the policy of excluding homosexuals from being Scouts or Scoutmasters may be inconsistent with the
United Way's mission improve communities.
"The United Way's position is we believe in the Boy Scouting programs in general; however, we don't want to be on record as
supporting discrimination in any form," said Steve Rosentel, chairman of the United Way board. "Discrimination for any reason is wrong."
The letter does not threaten to cut off local United Way funding
to the Boy Scouts, which is allocated about $17,000 per year by the local United Way. The council receives about $250,000 per year from 12 United Ways operating in 37 towns in western and central
Connecticut to help fund its $3.1 million annual budget.
Doug Krofina, executive director of the council, said the organization has no intention of changing its policies. "The Boy
Scouts believe, and I believe, we have a constitutional right to select our membership. We are a private membership organization," he said.
The local United Way chapter joins private individuals and state
agencies in questioning the Boy Scouts' stand. Cynthia Watts Elder, director of the state's Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, has said that allowing the Boy Scouts to participate in
a United Way program that deducts employee contributions from their paychecks may violate Connecticut's anti-discrimination laws.
The CHRO began examining the state's United Way drive after
the New Jersey Supreme Court found the Boy Scouts policy banning gays was unconstitutional. The investigation is pending.
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United Way to fund Boy Scouts despite dispute over homosexuals
DANBURY, Conn.
February 18, 2000
The regional United Way will not withhold money it gives the Connecticut Yankee Council of the Boys Scouts despite a
disagreement over a policy banning gays. "We've agreed to disagree," said United Way President Marty Milkovic.
The board of directors of the United Way of Northern Fairfield
County agreed Wednesday to suspend action pending the outcome of state and national legal challenges to the Boy Scout membership policy.
"The request for funding the Boy Scouts submitted (for the
coming fiscal year) will be assigned to a community fund team and that program will be evaluated and reviewed as it has in the past, independent of this issue," said Stephen Rosentel, chairman of the board.
Challenges are pending in the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, the U.S. Supreme Court and the Boy Scouts of America National Council.
The CHRO began examining the state's United Way drive after the New Jersey Supreme Court found the Boy Scouts policy banning gays was unconstitutional.
The United Way has said the policy of excluding homosexuals from being Scouts or Scoutmasters may be inconsistent with the United Way's mission improve communities.
The local Boy Scout council has said it supports the national policy. "We are sensitive to your concern about policy issues that face the Boy Scouts of America; however, our decision is to support
the national Boy Scouts of America organization and its current membership requirements," said a January 21st letter signed by Robert Urquhart, council president.
The Boy Scouts requested $17,000 this year, the same amount provided last year, Milkovic said. The request will be evaluated by the same criteria as the other 70 programs the United Way supports, he said.
"We will make our presentations to the United Way based on the effectiveness of programs, and the value our programs bring to young people in a community," said Doug Krofina, Scout executive.
The United Way annual 1999-2000 campaign raised more than $3 million.
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