Boy Scouts v Berkley - Thought Police in 2006

Posted on July 11, 2006

George Orwell wrote in a novel in 1948 a description of society whereby private thought was monitored. People rejected and becoming “un-persons” because they chose to not conform to society. Squads of police monitoring thought crimes and big brother on the wall watching you. The novel was 1984. Is that so far fetched?

Most leftists will say that Orwell was a social liberal yet their side of the political spectrum is following the trail which ends at big brother and thought monitoring.

The Boy Scouts of America refuse to allow homosexual Scout Leaders and atheists into the organization. It is a matter of organizational doctrine which prevents such things. However, the city of Berkley California has presumed to be the thought police and demands that an organization associated with the Boy Scouts of America either abandon it’s affiliation or modify its doctrine to allow the inclusion of homosexuals and atheists. In other words, they are presuming to tell the Berkley Sea Scouts how to think.

The first Amendment to the United States Constitution is very clear on the issues of freedom of assembly and speech yet the city of Berkley with the consent of the California judicial system has asserted a right to circumvent the 1st Amendment in the case of the Sea Scouts without protecting them under the 14th Amendment which the ACLU seems to think applies to everyone. And who is the Most Dangerous Organization in America backing? …The city of Berkley of course.

The Scouts have a right to believe what they believe. And if they are a non-profit and are recognized as such by every civil authority, it is discriminatory to exclude their organization based upon the context of their doctrine.

I seem to recall the ACLU backing a group of Nazis who wished to march in the small, mostly Jewish community of Skokie IL some years back. Their argument was that it doesn’t matter if you agree with their speech, that you must allow equal access to city services and lands for the purpose of expressing their 1st Amendment rights. The courts agreed.

Now we have the flip side. The very liberal community of Berkley in their anything goes atmosphere of the pursuit of personal gratification no matter the social, moral, and ethical damage it does; the very people who claim to be the most inclusive and accepting, will not allow a group of teenagers to continue to berth their boats at the city marina which they (as an organization) have been permitted to do since 1930.

World Net Daily reports:

A decision by the California Supreme Court that ended a half century of free use of the Berkeley, Calif., marina by the Boy Scouts of America is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Pacific Legal Foundation announced today.

Although Berkeley allows nonprofit groups free use of the city’s marina, it prohibits the Berkeley Sea Scouts from participating in this program, because the Sea Scouts are affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, which official excludes avowed homosexuals and atheists from being adult leaders of the boys enrolled in the century-old youth organization.

Although Berkeley has never identified a single exclusionary act by the Sea Scouts, it is barring the group from its marina program for nonprofits solely because of their ties with the Boy Scouts.

Seems to be a case of guilt by association. Whether you agree with the Boy Scouts of America or not, you must admit that they have a right to teach their doctrine in accordance with their organizational charter. But the city of Berkley, in the best tradition of the ACLU, has resorted to using activist courts and strong arm tactics to pressure an organization into going against its own teachings. Sounds like the thought police to me.

A decision by the California Supreme Court that ended a half century of free use of the Berkeley, Calif., marina by the Boy Scouts of America is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Pacific Legal Foundation announced today.

Although Berkeley allows nonprofit groups free use of the city’s marina, it prohibits the Berkeley Sea Scouts from participating in this program, because the Sea Scouts are affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, which official excludes avowed homosexuals and atheists from being adult leaders of the boys enrolled in the century-old youth organization.

Although Berkeley has never identified a single exclusionary act by the Sea Scouts, it is barring the group from its marina program for nonprofits solely because of their ties with the Boy Scouts.

In March, the California Supreme Court upheld Berkeley’s policy of denying the Sea Scouts access to the berthing program for nonprofits. The Pacific Legal Foundation is representing the skipper of the Berkeley Sea Scout program.

“Berkeley is penalizing the Sea Scouts for exercising their First Amendment right of association in ways that city officials don’t like,” said PLF attorney Harold Johnson, co-counsel in the case. “May government punish you, or fine you, or subject you to second class treatment if you don’t pass a politically correct litmus test? That’s the question raised by this case. It’s a question that deserves to be heard by the United States Supreme Court.”

Starting in the 1930s, Berkeley gave the Sea Scouts free access to berth Scout-owned boats, and the arrangement has continued uninterrupted since then – until now.

Isn’t there something to historical precident? The community has consistantly offered the Seas Scouts berthing at the city marina since 1930. There has been no break in the agreement since then until now. And that break is being dictated by the city over conflicts in organizational doctrine which could be construed as a violation of the organizations 1st Amendment rights of free Speech, free practice of religion, and freedom of assembly.

Personally I have a problem with someone from outside of an organization dictating to the members of an organization how your organization should be operated, under what belief system, and restricting the organization to run it’s own private affairs. And apparently the ACLU felt the same way when it fought repeatedly to get gay and lesbian tolerance groups the right to meet on public school grounds. However, the traditional meeting places for Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts has been removed under the insistence of the ACLU as well. Because the organization will not allow homosexuals to be Scout Leaders and atheists to be leaders or members.

The homosexual and secular humanist agendas are paramount on the agenda of the ACLU and have been since Anthony Romero took the lead at the 86 year old socialist organization.

“In 1998, the Berkeley City Council demanded that the local Sea Scouts admit homosexuals and atheists as members and leaders, or forswear their ties to the Boy Scouts of America, or lose the $500 per dock subsidy that enabled the Scouts to keep three boats in the marina,” explained WND columnist and Eagle Scout Hans Zeiger.

“Unable to compromise the Scout Oath, the Sea Scouts lost the dock subsidy,” Zeiger added. “And unable to pay the fee, the Sea Scouts have reduced their marina fleet to one boat. The Scouts sued, and now they have lost at the California Supreme Court. It remains an issue of equal access. Two other nonprofit organizations continue to have free berthing at the Berkeley Marina: the Cal Sailing Club and the Berkeley Yacht Club. For holding by character, the Boy Scouts are excluded.”

The Berkeley Sea Scouts is a multi-ethnic group drawing on all economic backgrounds. “Berkeley’s exclusion of the Sea Scouts has imposed financial hardships on the organization,” says the legal group. “The monthly berth fee of more than $500 that the Sea Scouts must pay has led to cutbacks in programs and less financial assistance available for kids from poor families.”

“The bottom line is that Berkeley officials are punishing the kids that participate in the Sea Scouts to make a political statement, and that’s a real tragedy,” Johnson said.

When the Sea Scouts declined to sign a statement of policy that would have ended their relationship with the Boy Scouts of America, Berkeley halted its half-century tradition of granting the Sea Scouts a free berth and began charging the group a $500 a month fee.

Thus, some minority, low-income Sea Scouts members have dropped out of the popular youth program.

Pacific Legal attorneys argued to California’s Supreme Court that Berkeley’s fee amounts to fining the Sea Scouts for exercising First Amendment freedoms, specifically the Sea Scouts’ right to associate with the Boy Scouts of America.

All this legal maneuvering is stunting the adolescence of many young men who are part of the Sea Scouts. They are losing part of their childhood because of a minority viewpoint in this country. And above all, THAT is the true crime.