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It was only in 2000 that the BSA won in the US Supreme Court, and one would have thought that BSA's right to continue to discriminate on the grounds of both religious belief and sexual orientation would have been
settled. As can be seen below, BSA's declaration that they're a "private religious organization," with the constitutional right to freely discriminate on whatever grounds they see fit, has only spawned more legal and other problems for BSA.
In the past six months, we've seen the following developments:
 One day after the US Supreme Court unanimously upheld the
Solomon Amendment, the California Supreme Court followed their lead in unanimously ruling against the BSA in the Berkeley case. In this case, the city of Berkeley passed a law requiring all non-profits that received financial
assistance from the city (in the form of a rent subsidy) to ban discrimination. A BSA Sea Scout Ship refused to comply by allowing openly gay youth to join and sued the city. The CA Supremes ruled that governmental agencies have
the right to attach strings to any financial assistance, accepted by organizations. For more information on this story, click here.
For a consecutive 8th year in a row, BSA membership has seen a
decline. In fact, in the last year, membership in BSA's traditional programs has decreased by almost 12%! Since 1997, membership has decreased by almost 24% - this is almost 1 million boys!.
For more information on BSA's current membership and to view the 12/31/2005 national figures, click here.
- A Federal Judge has ruled that the US Government cannot financially subsidize the BSA's quadrennial National Jamboree, starting in 2010. For
decades, the BSA -- a self declared private religious youth organization -- has received millions of taxpayer's dollars to put on their Jamboree, despite the fact that the federal government does not provide the same monetary
assistance to any other religious youth organization. The ruling striking down the BSA's "special rights," is a result of the Winkler lawsuit. For more information on this ruling, click here.
- As this web site reported in February 2005, the Greater Alabama Council revised its membership numbers downwards by 30% at the end of 2004. Now
this "fact" has been published in the mainstream media (click here). Interestingly, but not surprising, the Council is not accepting responsibility for
the fraud they perpetrated in the citizens of Birmingham, but blaming the ACLU for forcing public organizations from sponsoring religious organizations -- like the BSA. In addition, the Council has retaliated against a Scout
volunteer who blew the whistle on the council's scam. For more information on this, click here.
- The Daniel Webster Council (New Hampshire) has announced that it plans to have an audit of its membership rolls. While supporting their new Scout
Executive, it was reported that he had recently been the Director of Field Services in Atlanta was responsible for Operation First Class. The same program that has been proven fraudulently inflated membership numbers to solicit more funds.
- The Atlanta Civil Rights leader who blew the whistle on the Atlanta Area Council's fraudulent manipulation of its membership numbers for money, has
rejected the council's report as inaccurate. He contended last year, as well as now, that the number of black Boy Scouts are nowhere near the revised 5,000 number cited in the report. He has challenged the council to identify, by name,
at least 1,000 black Boys Scouts in the Operation First Class program. So far, the council has refused to do so. For more information, click here.
- The law firm hired by the Atlanta Area Council has finally released its report, which provides proof that of the Council's fraudulently inflated membership
rolls. The Scout Executive has resigned. It should be noted that the report was released the week after the Annual Meeting of the BSA National Council in Dallas. For more information on this story, click here.
- Douglas Sovereign Smith Jr., 61, the recently retired BSA National Director of Programs, was accused of trading several computer images of minors
engaging in sexual acts and exposing themselves. Smith, who once led a task force to prevent child molestation, pleaded guilty on 3/30/05 to one count of receiving and distributing child pornography. For more on this story, click here.
- Another BSA Council is under criminal investigation. This time it is the Gulf Ridge Council (Tampa Bay, FL). For more information, click here. There is also a report that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating BSA
Councils in at least six (6) states. So far we are aware of only three states where the FBI is conducting an investigation. This report, along with Williams' letter, seems to indicate that several more councils are under investigation by
the US Government for Fraud. The internal audit by the Atlanta Area Council, that was supposed to have been completed by the end of last year, has yet to be completed. For a recent article on the continuing delay, click here.
- We've recently received word that the BSA has terminated the employment of its General Manager at one of its High Adventure Bases. The reason? He was
gay! Although this was a well-known fact within the paid professional ranks, why National felt it had to fire this person -- at this time -- is a mystery to all, given his excellent reputation amongst both volunteers and paid
professionals. There is talk of litigation being considered by the former employee. When we get any new information, we'll post it here!
- On 2 March 2004 the Oregon Court of Appeals upheld a ruling that the Portland Public Schools discriminated against atheist students by allowing the
Boy Scouts to recruit during school hours. "Because eligibility to join the Scouts depends on religious belief, there is substantial evidence that the
district thus subjects persons to differentiated treatment in a school activity on the ground of religion," wrote Chief Judge David V. Brewer in a 6-3 decision. For more information on this decision and the case, click here.
- "Phantom" troops have inflated Boy Scout numbers and executive salaries in the local scouting council, according to a former employee who is suing the
organization. Claiming wrongful discharge from the Scouts' Crater Lake Council, the former western area director said he was forced to resign after uncovering evidence of nonexistent members on the rolls. In his lawsuit, John
Mangan is seeking a judgment of $296,000 against the council for lost wages and emotional distress. For more information on this scandal, click here.
- Another BSA council is under investigation by the FBI for alleged fraud. The Greater Alabama Council (Birmingham, AL), like the Circle Ten Council
(Dallas, TX), is being investigated by the FBI for falsely inflating the number of active BSA units in the council, for the purposes of obtaining additional funds from the local United Way chapter, as well as other organizations and
individual donors. Even a Council Board Member has gone on record as stating that the council has been manipulating the number of units and youth registered in the council. For more information on this developing story, click here.
What has yet to be reported by the mainstream press is that the Greater Alabama Council has already revised their membership figures. For the end
of 2004, the council is reporting a loss of almost 31%, for both members and units. Approximately 21,320 members failed to re-register by the end of
last year. This is the largest drop in membership of any council for 2004.
BSA National has sent a memo to Scout Executives regarding the situation in Atlanta and Birmingham. The memo hints that other scandals will become
public in the coming months. To read the memo, click here.
- BSA's membership numbers for 2004 have been compiled and for a fifth straight year
in a row, BSA has experienced a decline in it all of is traditional programs! Even more ominous, Cub Scouting has seen six straight years of decline
! For more information and to see the 2004 figures, click here.
The Atlanta Area Council has reportedly hired an outside audit of a portion of
its membership rolls, in response to allegations that the council has "committed a gross fraud in Atlanta by falsifying the registration of thousands of Black boys to raise money." Specifically, a 10-year program targeting
minority youth has supposedly resulted in up to 20,000 black boys being registered. According to black community leaders, the actual number is no more than 500! For more information on this developing scandal, click here.
- The Michigan Court of Appeals let stand a judge's ruling that the Mount Pleasant Public Schools' ties with the Boy Scouts of America did not violate
the state constitution. For more information on this case, click here.
- In light of recent publicity regarding BSA's membership scandals, some have suggested that a review of past publicized scandals would be informative. To
that end, an article has been written which provides an overview of the many publicized membership padding scandals that have plagued BSA since the 1920's. To learn more of the total disregard BSA paid professionals have for
Scouting's first Scout law (A Scout is Trustworthy), click here.
- As has been expected for some time, the Department of Defense has formally agreed, as part of a settlement in the Winkler case, that they would notify
military bases around the the world not to sponsor BSA units. The reason the DOD has to drop these units is because BSA has decided that it is a private religious organization. DOD said that it "has long had a rule against
sponsorship of non-federal organizations" and BSA's new definition of itself, and its religious test, makes its illegal for DOD to charter some 1,200+ BSA units. If BSA did not require a religious test and adopted a more inclusive
religious policy of other WOSM Scouting Associations, then DOD would probably still charter BSA units.
The case is still ongoing, as DOD spends millions of taxpayer's money on
maintaining and running the quadrennial national jamboree. That question, as well as the units chartered by public schools across the country, are next.
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For news items more than six months old, please check out the Archives!
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