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j
ccording to the U.S.
Supreme Court, the Boy
Scouts of America can
require troop leaders to be
trustworthy, loyal, cheerful, clean,
kind, reverent — and heterosexual.
Although a June 28 decision of the
high court allowing the Boy Scouts
to bar homosexuals from leading
troops was supported by some reli-
gious groups, it came under fire by
others — with the Reform move-
ment of Judaism at the forefront.
Based upon the ruling, involving
the dismissal of assistant scoutmaster
James Dale by a New Jersey troop
that learned he was gay, the Joint
Commission on Social Action of the
Reform Movement responded. It
sent a memorandum on Jan. 5 to its
member congregations advising they
sever ties to the Boy Scouts — or at
least withdraw financial support or
ask local Scout groups to rewrite
their charters.
The dispute over gay Scout leaders
is a clear culture clash between the
Boy Scouts, a traditional organiza-
tion that views homosexuality as a
threat to "family values," and the
Reform movement, which sees dis-
crimination against gays as a viola-
tion of civil rights.
Nationally, some schools, organiza-
tions and corporations have with-
drawn their support from the Boys
Scouts, but the Reform Jewish
movement, with about 7,000 Scouts
meeting in their synagogues, was the
first religious group to do so.
A few Reform synagogues have
evicted the Scout troops they once
sponsored and housed, says Rabbi
Daniel Polish, director of the Joint
Commission on Social Action and
former rabbi of Temple Beth El in
Bloomfield Township.
"We, as a movement, have been
very assertive in embracing the full
civil rights of gay men and women,"
he says. "From a religious perspec-
tive, we stand for the notion that all
people are equally children of God.
So if you have a religious movement
sponsoring a group with a diametri-
cally opposed set of values, it sets up
a terrible conflict."
Michigan's Boy Scouts
In the United States, there are
123,935 Boy Scout troops and Cub
Scout packs, with 3.4 million young
people involved. Jewish organiza-
tions sponsor 277 of those units.
Of the 65 percent of American
Scout troops sponsored by religious
organizations, very few are Jewish.
None of 15 Michigan Reform syna-
gogues surveyed have their own
troops.
Nondenominational troops, such
as those once held at Hillel Day
School of Metropolitan Detroit and
the West Bloomfield Jewish
Community Center, have folded.
Still, Detroiters with ties to both
Boy Scouts and the Reform move-
ment have varied reactions to the
memo.
Although not a sponsor of a troop,
Reform Congregation Shaarey Zedek
in East Lansing is a charter partner
of Troop No. 180, providing space
in their building for weekly meet-
ings.
"As a charter partner, the syna-
gogue legally owns our Scout troop,"
says Bruce McCrea of Lansing, a
Scout leader there since he brought
his elementary school-based troop to
the synagogue in 1978.
"But the troop is not sponsored by
the synagogue. It is an association
formed as a community ourreach
program of Shaarey Zedek," McCrea
says. Composed of both non-Jewish
and Jewish Scouts, the troop cur-
rently includes no Shaarey Zedek
members, but has in the past.
"We've been associated with them
for 23 years," says Winifred Rome,
synagogue president. We have a
very positive relationship with the
troop. We've never had any problems