The Associated Press
BERKELEY - An openly gay councilman persuaded Berkeley's
mayor to
postpone a meeting with scout troops visiting from Japan, prompting a flood of angry letters and
e-mails to city
hall and a newspaper.
Kriss Worthington objected to the city hosting an event with an organization he says
discriminates
against gays, and Mayor Shirley Dean decided to reschedule the meeting away from city hall.
The Japanese scouts and the Girl Scouts of the United States of America have no policy
against gays, but
the Boy Scouts of America bans gay leaders. Last summer, the Supreme Court upheld the ban.
Worthington said he was troubled because the visiting scouts would have been accompanied
by scouts
from Berkeley. He suggested Dean discuss the Boy Scouts' policy on gays with the visitors.
Ken Daniel, director of support services for the Mount Diablo Council for the Boy Scouts of
America
would not comment on Worthington's criticism.
Letters and e-mails to the San Francisco Chronicle, and callers to talk radio shows called
Worthington
an "idiot" and worse.
"We are not the problem", wrote Berkeley Cub Scout leader Ellen Georgi. "We get slapped
in the face
wherever we go"
The 38 scouts from Sakai, Berkeley's sister city n Japan were to meet Dean Monday to
present her with
a letter from their mayor. Dean said she canceled the meeting only to spare the scouts from
possible
protests.
"I've had enough experience in Berkeley to know that it could result in some kind of a larger
disturbance," she said. "This is not about discrimination and the Boy Scouts. It's about making
our foreign
visitors feel comfortable."
The meeting has been moved to Friday in nearby El Cerrito.
Masaya Sagawa, a spokesman for the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco, called the
postponement
unfortunate.
"I understand this is really a sensitive issue for American Boy Scouts," Sagawa said.
