Gay Today: World

Scouting For All Appoints
Midwestern Regional Director

Compiled By GayToday

Minneapolis Minnesota -- Scouting For All (SFA) has appointed schoolteacher David Perry as the new Midwestern Regional Director in its national campaign to end discrimination against gays in scouting.

Perry, who lives in Minneapolis, will be covering West Virginia Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota, as part of his territory.

Scouting for All Co-Founder Steven Cozza

Perry first got involved fighting Boy Scout discrimination two and a half years ago when the Boy Scouts showed up at his St. Paul school where he teaches second grade. He wrote numerous letters to school district officials declaring that the BSA should not be allowed to recruit new members through the school system. After the Scouts started operating a troop as part of the after school program, he and the MCLU filed suit against his school district.

"It was inconceivable to me that the St. Paul Public School District would violate its own policy of non-discrimination and show no concern for possibly hurting some of their own teachers and students. In effect, they were fighting for the goal of continuing to discriminate," said an incredulous Perry.

The school district won the lawsuit, allowing the status quo to continue. "We're just asking public school districts to back up their own non-discrimination policies," said Perry. "They would never support the Boy Scouts if they discriminated against African Americans, Jews, or Muslims; why should they be supported when they discriminate against gays?"

This lack of concern for what in Perry's opinion, are probably the only two remaining minority groups in the U.S. whose rights can be trampled on with almost total impunity, is what compelled him to take a stand against the Boy Scouts and then to get involved in Scouting For All.

"The Boy Scouts was a great organization," said Perry. "In taking the position of Midwestern Director with Scouting for All, I'm working for a return to the BSA's long standing tradition of inclusiveness and nonjudgmental ways. In addition, the American people must realize that you can't turn a blind eye to discrimination--even if it is the Boys Scouts."

The Midwestern Regional Director will help coordinate, network and provide support to both Scouting For All Alliance members and individual supporters in an effort to mobilize our National Campaign to get the BSA to rescind its harmful and shameful policy of discrimination.

The Scouting For All National Campaign calls for members of scouting groups to defy the BSA policy, for funders such as businesses and United Ways to discontinue funding, and for government municipalities and public facilities to refuse to allow the BSA the use of public facilities. It also calls on religious congregations (who sponsor over 60% of Scout units) to refuse to comply with the bigoted policy of the BSA.

Related Stories from the GayToday Archive:

Steven Cozza: Boy Scout Extraordinaire

Boy Scouts Lose Access to Connecticut Facilities

Germany's Unitarian Universalist Church Blasts Back at the Boy Scouts of America

Related Sites:
Scouting for All

GayToday does not endorse related sites.

“This issue of discrimination by the BSA against a segment of our society is a human rights violation. As a people, as a nation, we must no longer tolerate this social injustice,” says Scott Cozza, President of Scouting For All. "We are honored to have Mr. David Perry as part of our Scouting For All team"!