Unlimited Chances
Mr. HELMS. It was a curious turn of events that brought Scouting to America in 1910. The year before that, in 1909, a Chicago publisher, William D. Boyce, had been traveling in Europe and got lost in a dense fog while he was in London. It was a Scout--not by that name but a Scout--who came to Boyce's aid and guided him through the fog to his hotel. Afterwards, the boy refused a tip from Mr. Boyce explaining that as a Scout, he would not and could not take a tip for doing a good turn.
Since that time, almost a century has elapsed, and the character and the reputation and the admiration that people have for the Boy Scouts of America has intensified year after year.
Last June, a year ago, the Supreme Court found it essential to uphold constitutional rights of Boy Scouts of America, oddly enough, to abide by and practice the Boy Scout moral guidelines for membership and leadership, including no obligation to accept homosexuals as Boy Scout members or leaders.
Yet in spite of the Supreme Court's landmark decision, radical militants continue to attack this respectable organization--the Boy Scouts of America.
Specifically, these militants are pressuring school districts across the country to exclude the Boy Scouts of America from federally funded public school facilities based on what they did in one instance. They decided to press for exclusion of the Boy Scouts from the schools because the Boy Scouts would not agree to surrender their first amendment rights and because they would not accept the agenda of the radical left.
I asked the Congressional Research Service, among others, to inform me as to how many school districts have already taken such hostile action against the Boy Scouts. The Congressional Research Service reported to me that at that time at least nine school districts were known to have attacked the Boy Scouts of America, and, in the majority of the cases, they had done so in outright rejection of the Supreme Court's ruling protecting the Boy Scouts' rights, which is now the law of the land.
Which is precisely why I again decided to offer the amendment entitled ``The Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act.'' This pending amendment--which unanimously passed the House of Representatives--would for once and for all put a complete end to the arrogant treatment being directed by various school districts across this Nation at the Boy Scouts of America,
Specifically, the pending amendment stipulates that if a public elementary school, or a public secondary school, discriminates against the Boy Scouts of America--or any other youth group similar to the Boy Scouts--in providing equal access to school facilities, then that school will be in jeopardy of losing its Federal funds.
Now, before opponents work themselves into a frenzy, it may be well to make clear on exactly how this proposed amendment would work: it stipulates that the Office of Civil Rights within the Department of Education be given statutory authority to investigate any discriminatory action taken by school authorities against the Boy Scouts of America.
The Office of Civil Rights was established to handle discrimination problems that occur within the public school system. My amendment would direct the Office of Civil Rights to handle cases of discrimination against the Boy Scouts precisely the same as the Department of Education currently handles other cases of discrimination--barred by Federal law and which may result in termination of Federal funds.
[Page: S6250]GPO's PDF
It should be noted, Mr. President, that according to CRS, ``historically, the fund termination sanction has been infrequently exercised--by the Office of Civil Rights--and most cases are settled at ..... the investigative process .....''. In other words, when the Office of Civil Rights warns a school to get its act together, the school usually listens.
Therefore, it is not likely that any school will be in fact ever that its funding eliminated; unless it adamantly refuses to provide the Boy Scouts of America equal access to school facilities.
It will not be handled willy-nilly. It will be based on specific evidence.
Needless to say, I do hope that the Senate will uphold the constitutional rights of the Boy Scouts of America to have equal access to school facilities.
I ask for the yeas and nays on the amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
Mr. HELMS. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi, the Republican leader.
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I thank the manager in opposition to this amendment for allowing me to go ahead and speak now. Ordinarily, we make a real point to go back and forth. So I appreciate that. I will be brief and to the point.
I rise in support of this amendment. I think it is an amendment that should basically be accepted by all of us. I don't know quite how to react to the fact that in America even the Boy Scouts seem to be under attack. Is motherhood and apple pie next? Is there nothing sacred anymore?
I don't have a conflict of interest. I came from such a small, rural, poor area that we didn't even have a Boy Scout troop. I was a Cub Scout. Somehow or other we managed to have a Cub Scout troop. I enjoyed that. I never got to be a Weeblo or a Boy Scout. I missed it.
I have been very supportive of the Boy Scouts, and I have attended Eagle Scout ceremonies. I have been to Boy Scouts events that recognized great Americans who started off as Scouts--such as Jerry Ford when he got a special recognition.
It is not as if I am defending something from which I directly benefited. But, quite frankly, I think we all benefit from organizations such as the Boy Scouts. Their fundamental principles are rooted in basic good things such as duty to God and respect for individual beliefs, loyalty to one's country and respect for its laws, service to others, voluntarism, and training of youth in responsible citizenship, in physical and mental development, and in character advancement.
These are all such fine goals. I have watched this organization transform young men's lives, as the Girl Scouts with girls. They have given them an opportunity to help themselves, to support causes bigger than themselves as the saying goes now, and to improve their community by involvement.
I think in no way should we diminish the importance of that, or take away what they do for boys and girls of all races and ethnic and religious backgrounds.
Now what does this amendment do? The title is the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act. It sounds good to me. I assume there are going to be those who say this is something we shouldn't do or it gives them some advantage. But all it says is that if a public elementary school or public secondary school has a designated open forum, then that school cannot discriminate against the Boy Scouts of America or any youth group on the basis of its membership or leadership criteria or on the basis of its oath of allegiance to God and country.
If a public school did discriminate against the Boy Scouts of America, then that school would be in jeopardy of losing its Federal education funds.
I know the Supreme Court rendered a decision recently saying a religious group could have time and access to space at a school if all other groups have access. You do not have to attend, but if you are going to have an open policy, then you have to let everybody have an opportunity to have access to the space in the school. This is a very meritorious and I think very defensible position to have.
The Boy Scouts have become the largest voluntary youth movement in the world with a worldwide membership totaling more than 25 million. Over 6 million of those participants come from the United States alone.
There have been a series of decisions in the courts that I think relate to this. The U.S. Supreme Court held in Boy Scouts v. Dale that the Boy Scouts are a private organization and, as such, they can decide who can be in their organization if they wish.
There was a decision recently involving the Boy Scouts in the U.S. district court in Florida which said that Broward County could not evict Scouts off school property.
So there are decisions at the district court level and from the Supreme Court affecting this. But of the attacks on the Boy Scouts, some people would say it is no real problem. It is having an impact. Based on the Boy Scouts' stand on their principles, eight of the United Way agencies nationwide have withdrawn their financial support from the Boy Scouts of America. We have seen that there have been some 359 school districts which have severed sponsorships with the Scouts since last June's ruling.
So it is affecting the Boy Scouts in terms of financial support, and it is affecting them in that schools are beginning to prohibit Boy Scouts from being able to have sponsorships and meet in their schools.
So clearly it is having an effect. We have reached the point now where when a Boy Scout troop comes out--four or five boys; or girls who are Girl Scouts--they get booed because they are there during the Pledge of Allegiance. Surely, we cannot reach that kind of ugliness in America.
So I think it is very important that we have this amendment added. It would require that public schools treat the Boy Scouts of America exactly the same as they do all other groups meeting in the schools; that is all. Surely, the least we can do is to allow them to have equal access.
So while there may be some wringing of hands and assertions of what this amendment does way beyond what it does, or its intent, they just want to be treated the same as everybody else --nothing more, nothing less.
I yield the floor.
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