c. 1998 Religion News Service

D.C. commission hears case about Boy Scouts’ anti-gay stance

(RNS) The District of Columbia Commission on Human Rights has begun hearing the case of two gay men who were banned from the Boy Scouts of America, adding to the list of several cases across the country aimed at forcing the Scouts to drop its anti-gay policies.

A hearing on the case opened Tuesday (Jan. 20), The Washington Post reported.

The case focuses on whether the 5.6 million-member organization is a private club protected by the constitutional right to freedom of association or whether the Scouting group must adhere to the city’s Human Rights Act, which forbids discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

In 1992, Michael S. Geller and Roland D. Pool separately told D.C. Scouting officials that they were gay and the organization demanded them to sever their Scouting ties. They filed a complaint with the city arguing the ban on gay leaders and members violates the Human Rights Act.

The result of the hearing, expected to last three weeks, could influence Boy Scout activities in Washington, where there are more than 2,000 Scouts.”We anticipate this to be a huge case,”said Chief Hearing Examiner Cornelius R. Alexander Jr., who will preside over the hearing. He said the complaint is the first based solely on sexual orientation to be heard in D.C. in at least seven years.

A written decision is expected in June, at the earliest.

Scouting officials say gay men are not appropriate role models.”Our right is to set and maintain standards,”said Gregg Shields, the Scouts’ national spokesman.”Our members expect us to uphold those standards, and we expect the courts will affirm our First Amendment rights.” But said Keith Leishman of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, who represented a homosexual man in that state in a similar case,”We believe individuals have constitutional rights to freedom of association and speech, and if a group wants to exist to express hostility to gays or blacks or women, there are protections for that.”But the Boy Scouts? You’re talking about 4 million kids tying knots,”he said.”It not the same thing.” The question of gays and the Boy Scouts is being considered nationwide, with preliminary victories for gay men and for the Scouts. Almost every case is on appeal. A ruling in a case recently heard before the California Supreme Court was expected within 90 days from its Jan. 5 hearing.

Falwell meets Netanyahu, plans evangelical support for Israel

(RNS) The Rev. Jerry Falwell met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday (Jan. 19) and plans to encourage U.S. evangelical pastors to support efforts to prevent further territory being placed in the hands of Palestinians.”There are about 200,000 evangelical pastors in America, and we’re asking them all through e-mail, faxes, letters, telephone, to go into their pulpits and use their influence in support of the state of Israel and the prime minister,”said Falwell, The New York Times reported.

Netanyahu’s meeting with evangelical leaders in Washington comes at a time when his country is under pressure from U.S. Jewish groups and the White House to move forward with Middle East peace efforts, which have been at an impasse.

President Clinton, the subject of widely discredited but critical videotapes that have been sold on Falwell’s TV program, was apparently angry that the meeting took place between Netanyahu and the former head of the now-defunct Moral Majority.”It would be sufficient to say that the prime minister is probably aware of concerns that the president might have on some aspects of that (meeting),”said White House spokesman Michael D. McCurry.

Some of the other evangelical leaders who met with Netanyahu included Morris Chapman, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, and the Rev. John Hagee, a TV minister from Texas.

Their meeting was preceded by a rally attended by about 1,000 Christian and Jewish conservatives that was organized by Voices United for Israel, a small group based in Kansas City, Kan., that opposes any moves to give Palestinians territory now controlled by Israel.

Some leaders of U.S. Jewish groups were upset that Netanyahu had met with evangelical Christians, many of whom cite biblical reasons for supporting Israel.

Abraham Foxman, executive director of the Anti-Defamation League, called the meeting”curious”and”crude”because some evangelical groups have led campaigns against Clinton.

Said David Harris, the American Jewish Committee’s executive director,”Israel needs support from a broad range of the American public, this community included, but if it’s inordinately focused on this community alone, it’s going to raise some questions.”

Jewish group backs ban on genetic workplace discrimination

(RNS) The American Jewish Committee’s Commission for Women’s Equality said Wednesday (Jan. 21) they were pleased with the Clinton administration’s call for a federal ban on employment discrimination based on a worker’s genetic make-up.

In a statement, leader’s of the women’s commission said the proposed ban is of special importance to the Jewish community because of the genetic predisposition of Ashkenazi Jews to a variety of genetically induced cancers, including breast cancer.”These diseases can be devastating,”the commission said.”The plight of those who have the genetic marker is compounded by fears of discrimination by employers concerned about the cost of providing health insurance.” On Tuesday, Vice President Al Gore urged Congress to pass legislation putting genetic anti-bias laws into place.”Genetic progress should not become a new excuse for discrimination,”Gore told a meeting of The Genome Action Coalition.”In the whirlwind of the biotechnology revolution, we must hold tight to our deepest values.” Some 87 different genes cause disease, ranging from cystic fibrosis to Parkinson’s disease. But inheriting a defective gene does not automatically result in a person getting a disease.

Gore said the fear of genetic discrimination is prompting people to avoid the testing that could save their lives.

The Jewish group said the administration’s proposal”will go a long way to allay some of these fears.”

Quote of the Day: Rabbi Mordechai Halprin

(RNS)”Unlike the formal Christian position, Judaism maintains that cloning might be allowed, under strict supervision.” _ Rabbi Mordechai Halprin, testifying as a representative of the Chief Rabbinate to the Israeli parliament’s Science Committee, according to The Washington Post.

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