I WEDNESDAY, Sept. 13, 2000
Boy Scouts' charter
Legislation was drawn from
concern about the group
excluding homosexuals.
By The Abrams
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON, D.C. A small group of
House lawmakers charging that the Boy
Scouts' policy toward gays was a badge of
intolerance moved yesterday to repeal the
organization's federal charter.
The legislation was another challenge to
the long-standing relationship between the
Boy Scouts and the federal government ris
ing out of the group's stance on excluding
homosexuals.
A vote on the bill, expected to be easily
defeated, was likely to take place tomorrow.
The bill's chief sponsor, Rep. Lynn
Woolsey, D-Calif., said she was a Girl Scout
and one of her sons was a Boy Scout
'We're not saying the Boy Scouts are bad;
we're saying that intolerance is bad," she
said in introducing the measure earlier this
summer.
"We're disappointed that this bill would
even be considered," countered Boy Scouts
spokesman Gregg Shields.
He said having a federal charter is an
honor and "we hope to continue to live up to
that honor."
Republicans were quick to condemn the
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bill and its Democratic supporters.
"Election-year pandering on an issue so
radical and anti-American is an insult to
families, Scouts and the country," said Rep.
J.C. Watts of Oklahoma, the fourth-ranking
House Republican.
"I scheduled this bill to demonstrate the
lack of support for those who have declared
open season on the Boy Scouts," said House
Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas.
The Boy Scouts of America got its federal
charter in 1916, six years after it was found
(A
It is one of about 90 groups with such des
ignation, an honorary title given to patriotic,
charitable and education organizations.
While it confers no specific benefits,
receiving a federal charter is a mark of pres
tige and national recognition for a group.
Among other groups with federal charters
like the Boy Scouts are the American
Legion, Future Farmers of America, the
National Tropical Botanical Garden and the
National Ski Patrol.
The Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision in
June, upheld the Boy Scouts' ban on homo
sexuals serving as troop leaders.
That ruling may also give legal backing to
the 6.2 million-member organization's rejec
tion of gay youths as members.
The Scouts asserted that homosexual con
duct is inconsistent with the values it seeks
to instill.
Although the high court sided with the
group's First Amendment rights to "expres-
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in question
sive association," the Boy Scout relationship
with the federal government was brought
into question by President Clinton.
rwe days before the ruling, the president
issued an executive order barring discrimi
nation on the basis of sexual orientation in
federally conducted education and training
programs.
The Interior Department in August asked
the Justice Department for guidance on how
that order affected the holding of Boy Scout
Jamborees on federal lands.
GOP presidential nominee George W.
Bush and other Republicans quickly
accused the administration of trying to
throw the scouts off federal lands.
But Attorney General Janet Reno, in a
statement this month, said the tradition of
Boy Scouts using federal lands for camping
and other activities could continue.
Woolsey has also urged Clinton to resign
as honorary president of the Boy Scouts
because of the policy toward gays.
Her office said the White House has not
responded to that request.
Shields said every president since Taft
has served as honorary president.
After the June Supreme Court ruling,
Clinton said he is "generally against discrim
ination against gays."
But he refused to criticize the Scouts or
the court's ruling.
"The Boy Scouts still are they're a
great group.
They do a lot of good."
Informcrtion: 863-3786
NATIONAL
United States forgives
Bangladesh's payments
Bangladesh is the first
country to cut U.S. debt to
provide funding for forests.
WASHINGTON, D.C. The United
States is canceling a portion of
Bangladesh's debt and allowing future
interest payments to go into a fund that
supports tropical forest conservation
efforts.
The agreement will cancel some debt
payments and save Bangladesh more than
$lO million over the next 18 years, the U.S.
Treasury Department announced yester
day.
Bangladesh is the first country to benefit
from legislation passed by Congress and
signed into law by President Clinton in 1998
that.provides certain countries the opportu
nity to reduce some of the debt they owe to
the United States and generate funds for
tropical forest conservation activities, the
Treasury Department said.
The agreement reflects a "commitment
to protect biodiversity and tropical forests
around the world," said Treasury's Deputy
By Jeannine Aversa
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Secretary Stuart Eizenstat. Bangladesh,
over the next 18 years, will have an estimat
ed $8.5 million in the tropical forest conser
vation fund, Treasury said.
That would result from interest payments
on remaining debt being deposited into the
fund rather than being paid to the United
States.
"Most of the countries that possess many
of the world's fragile rain forests are under
heavy financial pressure to turn their rain
forests into quick cash to meet their imme
diate domestic needs," said Sen. Joseph
Biden, D-DeL, who helped write the law.
The fund will be overseen by a board
whose members will include one U.S. gov
ernment representative.
A Bangladeshi government representa
tive and members of the Bangladeshi public
such as environmentalists, community
members, scientists or forestry experts will
also help oversee the program.
Bangladesh's tropical forests cover about
3.7 million acres.
Roughly half of this tropical forest is in
the southwestern Sunderbans region. This
area is considered to be the biggest habitat
in the world for rare Bengal tigers.
The Clinton administration is discussing
similar arrangements to forgive debt pay
ments with Belize and El Salvador, the
Treasury Department said.