Portland OKs Scouts’ continued use of schools

PORTLAND – The Portland School Committee has voted 6-3 to reject a proposal to bar the Boy Scouts of America from continuing to meet in the city’s schools.

Instead, the panel approved a watered-down resolution that makes no specific mention of the Boy Scouts but criticizes the group’s exclusion of homosexuals.

The Boy Scouts have adopted what amounts to a “don’t ask, don’t tell policy,” and its official stance is to bar avowed gays as leaders or members.

The School Committee was asked to bar the Boy Scouts from schools since the city has an anti-discrimination ordinance. But a lawyer for the School Committee said barring the Boy Scouts would have been unconstitutional.

Hugh MacMahon cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that said the Boy Scouts of America is a private organization that has a legal right to exclude homosexuals.

Jill Duson, the school board’s chairwoman, subsequently dropped her plan to ask the board to bar the schools from sending home membership information for the Boy Scouts.

Duson said she realized singling out the Scouts would be “a punishment of the Boy Scouts based on their view.”

However, she asked the School Committee to approve the resolution saying that it doesn’t endorse discriminatory policies of the groups that meet in its schools. The resolution was approved 6-2, after mention of the Boy Scouts was removed.