Boy Scout Backlash

For years, the Boy Scouts have helped foster togetherness and civic pride. But over the past few months, all across the nation, they have become a catalyst for conflict.

In June, the Supreme Court upheld the Scouts' ban on gay Scout leaders. Denouncing that policy as discriminatory, numerous school boards, city councils, corporations and charities have halted or reduced support for the Scouts.

As CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston reports, some parents say the Boy Scout policy banning homosexuals is discriminatory and wrong.

Susie Collins and her husband Joe Thompson had to tell their eight-year-old son Martin "no" when he wanted to join the Scouts. "It makes me so sad with the Boy Scouts that we can't be part of it really, because I think we have a lot in common. This is a responsibility I have as a citizen to say 'this is wrong', " says Collins. "It's been a good lesson for him, a little bit of a hard lesson, but it's been an important one."

But Jim Sowell, a board member for the Boy Scouts of America, thinks otherwise. "It's almost laughable to think parents would be comfortable with an organization who said we're going to send your sons out on a camping trip once a month with a leader who is homosexual." Sowell also claims "the Boy Scouts are a private organization who can set their own rules and regulations. This is the way that the Boy Scouts have chosen to handle this situation."

But what the Boy Scouts consider a right, some are calling an affront to fairness that should not be supported by taxpayers.

In Florida, two counties have already stopped more than one hundred thousand dollars in tax money from going to the Boy Scouts. They could lose up to $400,000 statewide.

In Minneapolis, the school board said its schools can no longer sponsor Scout troops; more than two dozen troops with about 900 members must find new sponsors.

But other communities are showing support for the Scouts. In Kentucky, numerous donors to the United Way of the Bluegrass threatened to stop contributions if the charity cut off its funding to the Boy Scouts. The United Way decided to continue supporting the Scouts.

In Eugene, Ore., a school district's ban on Boy Scout recruiting at schools was lifted following vehement complaints.

With a reported 6 million members, including adults, the spokesmen for the Scouts insist protests are not hurting their organization's ability to recruit new members or to raise funds. But Scout supporters are aware that some sponsors are reviewing their relationships.

Jim Sowell says "I would hope that they'd allow the Boy Scouts to continue to function. We need the schools and churches to support Boy Scout programs."

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