SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE for leaving Japanese scouts in lurch
(08-08) 13:06 PDT BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) --
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 in 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.
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