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Boycott United Way!
By Hans Zeiger
April 15, 2004

I've finally had it with the United Way. This week, yet another United Way chapter cut off funding to the Boy Scouts of America. United Way of Northwestern Michigan in Traverse City, Michigan will entirely remove the Scenic Trails Boy Scouts Council from its charitable giving campaign.

This is preposterous, as are the over five dozen other decisions by United Way chapters around the country to exclude the Boy Scouts from fundraising efforts. Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the Scouts have the right to exclude homosexuals from leadership and membership, the anti-Scout backlash has been most vicious at the hands of the United Way.

In Northwestern Michigan, fourteen counties and several thousand Boy Scouts are affected by the United Way decision to deny funding. The Scouts' application for $30,000 was rejected on the basis that the application was "not compelling." That's a simple way of saying that the Scout Oath and Law are not good enough qualifiers for financial support.

United Way of Northwestern Michigan isn't the only United Way to declare war on the Boy Scouts in recent weeks. So too have the United Way of Austin, Texas and the United Way of Central Ohio.

The largest United Ways in the largest cities have all broken ties to Scouting. San Francisco was the first to exclude the Scouts in 1992, followed by cities like Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Madison, Sacramento, Hartford, Seattle, Dallas, Tucson, Providence, Santa Fe, Miami, Portland, Maine, and Portland, Oregon.

It's time for Americans who care about the Boy Scouts to stop giving to anti-Scout United Ways. Even if it's convenient to make contributions through your workplace or if you've always supported the United Way, discontinue giving to the United Way if it no longer gives to the Scouts. Until we stop supporting anti-Scout United Way chapters, the United Way will increasingly de-fund the Boy Scouts in cities and towns across the country.

It is difficult for me to recommend a boycott of an organization that has done so much for America since 1918. I have personally benefited from the United Way as the recipient of a United Way college scholarship, and I participated in a local United Way youth advisory council.

But I realize the desperate moral situation we face. As an Eagle Scout, I see the forces of the Left arrayed against the Boy Scouts of America, and I have no choice but to fight back. United Way has increasingly allied itself with the radical homosexual movement at the expense of its once-close association with Scouting.

Today, more and more, the United Way is ditching the Boy Scouts, abandoning honor, utterly despising America's finest youth organization.

So for the sake of the Boy Scouts, please boycott the following United Way chapters:

• United Way of Alachua County, Gainesville, FL

• United Way of Allegan County, Allegan, MI

• United Way of Austin, Texas

• United Way of the Bay Area, San Francisco, CA

• United Way of Bronxville Eastchester Tuckahoe, Bronxville, NY

• United Way of Broward County, Fort Lauderdale, FL

• United Way of California Capital Region, Sacramento, CA

• United Way of Capital Area, Hartford, CT

• United Way of Chicago, Chicago, IL

• United Way of the Columbia-Willamette, Portland, OR

• United Way of Dane County, Madison, WI

• United Way of Dunn County, Menomonie, WI

• United Way of Essex and West Hudson, Newark. NJ

• United Way Evanston, Chicago, IL

• United Way of Fox Cities, Inc., Menasha, WI

• United Way of Greater Duluth, Inc. Duluth, MN

• United Way of Greater Fall River, MA

• United Way of the Greater Winona Area, Winona, MN

• United Way of Greenwich, Connecticut

• Hampshire Community United Way, Northhampton, MA

• Heart of Florida United Way, Orlando, FL

• United Way of Jackson County, Medford, OR

• United Way of King County, Seattle, WA

• United Way of Massachusetts Bay, Boston, MA

• United Way of Metropolitan, Dallas, TX

• United Way of Miami-Dade, FL

• Monadnock United Way of Keene, NH

• United Way of Monmouth County, Farmingdale, NJ

• United Way of Monroe County, Bloomington, IN

• United Way of Monterey Bay, CA

• United Way of Morris County, Morristown, NJ

• United Way of Moscow/Latah County, Moscow, ID

• United Way of New Haven, CT

• United Way of Norwalk and Wilton, Norwalk, CT

• United Way of Northern Fairfield County, Danbury, CT

• United Way of Northwestern Michigan, Traverse City, MI

• United Way Inc., Palm Beach Community Chest, Palm Beach and Minalapan, FL

• United Way of Pierce County, Tacoma, WA

• United Way of Portland, ME

• United Way of Santa Barbara County, Santa Barbara, CA

• United Way of Santa Clara County, CA

• United Way of Santa Cruz County, Capitola, CA

• United Way of Santa Fe, NM

• United Way of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara, CA

• United Way of Snohomish County, Everett, WA

• United Way of Somerset County, NJ

• United Way of Sonoma-Mendocino-Lake Counties, Santa Rosa, CA

• United Way of Southeast New England, Providence, RI

• United Way Southeastern Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

• United Way of Thurston County, Olympia, WA

• United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, Tucson

• United Way of Ulster County, Kingston, NY

• United Way of Ventura County, Ventura, CA

• United Way of Westport-Weston, Westport, CT

• United Way of Westchester and Putnam, Inc. White Plains, NY

• United Way of Whatcom County, Bellingham, WA

All of this need not be a crisis for the Boy Scouts, but it should prompt a serious change in the attitudes of current United Way contributors who support the mission of the Boy Scouts.

The Boy Scouts have the First Amendment right to say who can and cannot be a part of their organization. And the United Way has the right to determine which groups it will fund.

The United Way is making poor choices. May it suffer the consequences, and may the Boy Scouts reap new rewards from Americans who believe in character and honor.

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Hans Zeiger is president of the Scout Honor Coalition and a student at Hillsdale College. www.hanszeiger.com

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.