Kansas City, Mo. — A synagogue that sponsors one of the city's oldest Boy Scout troops has decided to oppose the national Boy Scouts' ban on homosexuals.
The executive board at Congregation Beth Shalom in Kansas City, which sponsors Troop 61, plans to send a letter requesting that the organization rescind its ban on homosexuals from its youth membership and adult leadership ranks.
"We are inclusive; we will not discriminate," Beth Shalom Rabbi Alan Cohen said.
Troop 61 was founded in 1925 and has seen 300 of its 1,500 or so boys become Eagle Scouts, including its current scoutmaster, Ron Fredman.
Fredman disagrees with the ban on homosexuals, but he is not willing to disobey the national organization a move that has cost other troops their charters.
"I don't want to be put in a position that could lead to the death of (Troop) 61," Fredman said. "I don't want anything to get in the way of this troop's mission, which is to turn boys into leaders."
The troop 61 will receive a copy of the letter that the synagogue is sending to the national council. Fredman said Troop 61 leaders will prepare a response to Beth Shalom's position.
Cohen pointed out that the letter is aimed at the no-gays policy and should not be perceived as a criticism of Troop 61.
National Boy Scout leaders defend the policy, saying homosexuals are not good role models.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Boy Scouts' right to bar gays, saying the private organization had a right to set its membership guidelines. The ruling stemmed from a New Jersey case where a Scout leader was asked to resign in 1990 because he was gay.
Several groups nationwide have since pulled sponsorship of Scout troops and barred troops from longtime meeting places and some Eagle Scouts have returned their badges in protest.
The national Boy Scout council contends that Americans living in a free society should respect the rights of a private group to set its own admissions standards.
Most of the feedback the organization has received since last summer's ruling has been favorable, said Gregg Shields, spokesman for the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America in Irving, Tex.
Officials with Kansas City's Heart of America Council agree.
"The Midwest is very supportive of Scouting," said Mark Brayer, director of support services for the Heart of America Council, which counts 55,200 Scouts among its membership in 19 Missouri and Kansas counties.
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