Boy Scouts Booted For Barring Gays

The murder rate in Philadelphia is abhorrent; 406 homicides in 2007. Currently, the murder rate is about a murder per day including police officers and children. Gang violence and drugs are no longer a subculture but out front and in the open.

So who does Philadelphia go after in these dark times? You guessed it: The Boy Scouts. The one group that’s doing something to keep children off the streets in meaningful numbers is being kicked out of the building they’ve been in for decades for one reason and one reason only -they don’t allow homosexuals to be scout leaders.

The Philadelphia Boy Scouts chapter is suing the city after officials ordered them to open their membership to gays, or pay 200,000 percent more in rent. Philadelphia gave them until Saturday to adhere to a local “non-discrimination” rule. If they fail to comply, the building they lease would increase from $1 a year to $200,000 a year.

Philadelphia owns the building in question and the land beneath it. But the Scouts have put about $1.5 million in renovating the building and spend about $60,000 a year to maintain it. The Scouts said that an increase in rent would force program cuts and affect the nearly 70,000 children the chapter serves.

Philadelphia is saying they can’t give preferential treatment to an organization that discriminates. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the group has the right to do so. Now mind you, the United States military has a similar policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

So with the deadline for their eviction looming, the Scouts responded on this past Friday with a federal lawsuit to stay in the building.

I just have to ask that while Philadelphia is destroying itself does the city obsess on what to do with the Boy Scouts. In short, the City of Philadelphia is showing once again that they don’t care about people, they only care about interest groups. Political correctness takes precedence over people. Shame on Philadelphia. It’s already rotting from the inside and soon the city government will destroy the city completely.