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General Board of Church and Society the United Methodist Church For more information contact: Erik Alsgaard Ealsgaard@umc-gbcs.org (202) 488-5631 United Methodist General Board of Church and Society Opposes Boy Scouts Anti-gay Policy This is a statement of the General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church, adopted by the Board October 10, 1999. The general board is directed to "speak its convictions, interpretation, and concerns to the Church and to the World." Since its inception in 1910, over eighty-seven million youth and adults have joined the Boy Scouts of America. Churches sponsor 62 percent of Boy Scout troops, or 55 percent of all boys in scouting at all age levels. The United Methodist Church sponsors 11,738 units, accounting for 421,579 boys in scouting. While the General Board of Church and Society would like to enthusiastically affirm and encourage this continuing partnership of the church and scouting, we cannot due to the Boy Scouts of America's discrimination against gays. This discrimination conflicts with our Social Principles. The United Methodist Church, the largest single supporter of the Boy Scouts of America, strongly condemns discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Social Principles states: "We insist that all persons regardless of age, gender, national status, or sexual orientation, are entitled to have their human and civil rights ensured." (Para. 65G) The Social Principles further states: "Certain basic human rights and civil liberties are due all persons. We are committed to supporting those rights and liberties for homosexual persons." (Para. 66H) The General Board of Church and Society affirms the decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court in the case James Dale v. Boy Scouts of America that ruled the Boy Scouts of America is discriminatory in its exclusion of gays. We further, for the sake of our continuing partnership, call upon the Boy Scouts of America to discontinue this exclusion of gays.. ### Only the General Conference speaks for the entire denomination. The General Board of Church and Society is the international public policy and social action agency of The United Methodist Church.
Board opposes Boy Scouts' anti-gay policy Oct. 11, 1999 News media contact: Joretta Purdue· (202)546-8722· Washington {525} WASHINGTON (UMNS) - The social action agency of the United Methodist Church is calling upon the Boy Scouts of America to change its policy of excluding gays from participating in the organization. The governing members of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society issued a brief statement on the issue during their Oct. 7-10 meeting. The meeting was dominated by preparation of materials for next spring's General Conference, the top lawmaking assembly of the denomination. The Board of Church and Society's statement follows a recent ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court that the Boy Scouts of America is discriminating against homosexual people. The board's statement notes that the denomination sponsors 11,738 units, accounting for 421,579 boys in scouting. "While the General Board of Church and Society would like to enthusiastically affirm and encourage this continuing partnership of the church and scouting, we cannot due to the Boy Scouts of America's discrimination against gays," the board stated. "This discrimination conflicts with our [church's] Social Principles." In the statement, the board quotes references from the Social Principles that affirm the human rights and civil liberties of homosexual people. The Social Principles are contained in the denomination's Book of Discipline. The board statement concludes by affirming the New Jersey court's decision on James Dale v. Boy Scouts of America and calling upon the Boy Scouts organization not to discriminate. In presenting this statement, the Board of Church and Society has taken the opposite position from the denomination's Commission on United Methodist Men, which expressed its objection in September to the court's ruling. This action by another agency was mentioned during a vigorous discussion of the statement. A proposal to refer back to the work area, for consideration at the board's next meeting in October 2000, was defeated by just one vote. Objections to the original statement included that it was poorly written and that it interpreted the Boy Scouts' own materials out of context. The Rev. Bill Barney, a board member from Glens Falls, N.Y., supported the original statement. During his 47 years in scouting, he said, he had worked with outstanding scoutmasters who were gay, as well as gay young men who had become outstanding Eagle Scouts. He also reported that he had recently worked to have two pedophiles who were heterosexuals removed from leadership. After Barney spoke, board member Ann Freeman Price of Madison, NJ., suggested deletions amounting to about 40 percent of the original version. The resulting statement was approved by about two-thirds of the voting members at the meeting.
Methodist panel chides Scouts on gays A policy board of the United Methodist Church, which sponsors 11,738 Boy Scout troops, has condemned scoring's ban on homosexuals and implied the church may sever all ties. Sunday's vote by the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church -- a denomination that bans "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" as clergy and punishes ministers who perform same-sex "marriages" -- widened an internal schism. The policy statement noted that "only the General Conference speaks for the entire denomination." That world conference meets every four years and a church official predicted yesterday the policy statement would force a vote at the next one, set for Cleveland in May. A Boy Scouts of America (BSA) spokesman noted that other Methodist leaders were working to boost its troops to 37,000 and said the organization expects the relationship will survive. "We hope that we could continue the relationship with the United Methodist Church. From what we hear from the current members, we're looking forward to it," Gregg Shields said yesterday. The Methodists' General Board also announced it will support the legal position of Lambda Legal Defense Fund in opposing the Boy Scouts of America's appeal to the Supreme Court. The case involves an Aug. 4 ruling by New Jersey's high court that Scouting is a "public accommodation" that must be open to all, like a hotel or restaurant. The BSA is backed in its appeal by the Nashville, Tenn.-based Commission on United Methodist Men, whose status within the denomination is nominally equal to the General Board, a church official said. The men's commission, which handles the church's scouting involvement, is supporting discrimination in violation of church law, the board's general secretary charged yesterday. "I believe the implication of the members voting on this would cause the men's commission to look again at their support of discrimination against a certain group of people," the Rev. Thom White Wolf Fassett said. "The United Methodist Church . . . strongly condemns discrimination based on sexual orientation," said the board's formal statement. "We further, for the sake of our continuing partnership, call upon the Boy Scouts of America to discontinue this exclusion of gays." The statement was approved 2-1 by the 60-member board, Mr. Fassett said. He said the board action follows the social principle that any discrimination "is inappropriate in the context of United Methodist practice." Asked how that squared with church policy against admitting homosexuals to the clergy, he said, "The prohibition in the United Methodist context is based on the issues of sacred union, but not on issues of civil and human rights." He added the policy is not rigid. "The operative word in the United Methodist context is 'practicing.' It's generally acknowledged that there are gays and lesbians in leadership roles," he said. Methodist Church-sponsored Scout troops had a total membership of 421,579 and represented 13 percent of the nation's Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts as of Dec. 31. That was up from 417,866 in 1997 and 407,243 in 1996. The Rev. Joseph L. Harris, who heads the men's commission, told The Times in August the church planned to triple its support for scouting by starting a troop in every one of its 37,000 congregations. "No one's forced to be a Boy Scout," Mr. Shields said. "We've got great support from many in the men's commission, which came out in vociferous support of us, and we have support on an individual basis, not only because they are one of the largest chartering organizations, but because they are growing." Mr. Fassett said prospects to grow could depend on how the commission and Scouts respond to the general board, whom he called "trustees of the social principles of the United Methodist Church" in carrying out Christian social action.
Local church supports Gay Boy Scouts The governing body of the Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, DC., voted unanimously Nov. 18 to approve a resolution that condemns the Boy Scouts of America's policy of banning Gay Scouts and Scout leaders. The resolution states that the Boy Scouts policy is "a discriminatory selection process ... which confuses homosexuality with pedophilia and fails to recognize that gay men are capable of being good leaders without a hint of scandal." The resolution also urges the Boy Scouts of America's leadership to accept the New Jersey Supreme Court's ruling prohibiting the exclusion of Gays from the organization and to "end the organization's policy of discrimination against homosexuals across the nation." According to Larry Slagle, chair of Foundry's Council on Ministries, the resolution was proposed in response to recent actions taken by the Commission on United Methodist Men, the agency that oversees the denomination's Ministry on Scouting. The Commission on Men voted Sept. 17 to support the Boy Scouts' appeal of the New Jersey court's ruling. "Since the Commission on United Methodist Men was purporting to speak on behalf of all United Methodist churches with Boy Scout troops, we felt we had to speak up," said Foundry Church's lay leader, Suzanne Forsyth, in a statement. Since 1995, Foundry Church has been a "reconciling congregation," explicitly welcoming worshippers regardless of their sexual orientation, and church leaders have been vocal in their support of Gay people in the church. Foundry Church also hosts a Boy Scout troop, but the resolution will not affect the troop or its policies, Slagle said. |
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