California targets
the Boy Scouts

In the midst of California's animated political climate, the California Senate voted last week in favor of a resolution critical of the Boy Scouts of America for its policy on moral straightness and reverence. With a 22-15 majority, the senators called on the Boy Scouts to "accept for membership and leadership positions, including the rank of Eagle Scout, all qualified boys and men without discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or religious belief."

What authority does the California Legislature have to advise the Boy Scouts, a private organization, what to do and what not to do? In this case, the authority consulted was a combination of the Lavender Mafia and the Godless Gang, which for 20 years have headquartered their relentless anti-Scout movement in the state of California.

TRENDING: Capitol authorities on high alert Thursday over 'real inauguration' threat

On that spurious basis, the California Legislature had the audacity to contrive a resolution haranguing a private organization that "the discriminatory policy of the Boy Scouts of America is contrary to the policy of the State of California."

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 89, sponsored by Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, begins as a beautiful list of whereases describing the exemplary service of Scouts in their communities. As it continues, Goldberg's agenda becomes increasingly apparent: to alienate the Boy Scouts because of its regard for moral absolutes and values. In the end, Goldberg and her fellow politically correct lawmakers prove their vitriolic hatred for the principles of Scouting.

"The policy of the Boy Scouts to bar from membership or leadership qualified individuals solely on the basis of their sexual orientation or religious belief causes harm to the innumerable boys and men ... who, regardless of their hard work and merits, are denied the opportunity to ... participate in any way in the Boy Scouts of America." The resolution also includes a glorious acknowledgement of Scouting for All, a California-based anti-Scout boycott network whose president has personally called me a bigot for defending the Scout Oath and Law.

While the race for California governor rages on, shots have been taken at the Boy Scouts from the floor of the California Senate, and little has been said of it in the news. Only one gubernatorial candidate, Sen. Tom McClintock, has registered his support for the Boy Scouts because he was one of the 15 senators to vote against Resolution 89.

The front-runner, Arnold Swarzenegger, has yet to condemn the dangerous resolution. Arnold promised a few weeks ago that he would support the Boy Scouts. If Arnold is true to his word, now is the time for him to speak out.

For the rest of America beyond the Golden State, the passage of Resolution 89 sets a legislative precedent that could be attempted in other states, and it lays additional pressures on the culture-war embattled Boy Scouts. Four months ago, the resolution was affirmed by a vote of 43-2 in the California Assembly. An additional 36 Assembly members were listed in that April 24 roll call as "absent, abstaining, or not voting."

Resolution 89 further tarnishes the respect the Boy Scouts deserve, but anti-Scout Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg is celebrating the passage of her resolution with Scouting for All while the rest of her state is gathered in the arena of the governor's race.

Goldberg has been a militant lesbian since she spent the 1960s as a feminist, peacenik radical at Berkeley. Goldberg recently sponsored bills to rid California's schools of American Indian mascots and to extend spousal employment benefits to partners of homosexual employees.

Goldberg told the Roseville Press-Tribune, "I think it's important for the state of California to speak up and not be silent, and to say to the Scouts, if you have a religious belief, that's your belief. But keep it separate from a youth-serving agency that serves kids in all neighborhoods."

It's true that the Boy Scouts serve kids in all neighborhoods, but the Boy Scouts are a private organization and they can establish moral standards as they see fit. In 2000, the Supreme Court upheld the right of the BSA to establish its own membership policies.

Assemblywoman Goldberg argues the Boy Scouts have a duty to keep silent and ignorant about "your belief." Yet faith and reverence is the essential component of a Boy Scout. The Boy Scouts allows any boy or man to participate in its programs who affirms the Scout Oath: "On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God ..." That includes anyone who recognizes a higher power.

If no effort is made to identify anti-Scout legislative votes with names, if no one steps up to defend the policies of the Boy Scouts, if no candidate for governor beyond McClintock has the courage to defend this organization, California is in trouble indeed.