Scouts Have Different Approaches to Moral Questions

October 11, 2000

Source: The Denver Rocky Mountain News

On October 11, 2000, The Denver Rocky Mountain News reported that "Rabbi Steven Foster of Temple Emanuel returned his Boy Scout medals Tuesday in protest over the group's ban on gays. 'I felt it was appropriate to resign from the Eagle Scouts because of the discrimination against atheists and gays,' he said. 'It's a simple matter for me. I don't think it's appropriate to be associated, for myself, with an organization that chooses discrimination.'

"Tom Fitzgibbon, chief executive director of Boy Scouts of America, Denver Area Council, said he was disappointed. 'We're extremely sorry that he feels the way he does,' Fitzgibbon said. 'It's his prerogative to make that statement.' But he also said that one person out of more than a million Boy Scout alumni won't make much of an impact. In the Denver Area Council, about 46,000 youths are involved with Boy Scouts, with 11,000 adult volunteers. Foster made the announcement Sunday during Yom Kippur services at Temple Emanuel. 'I hope that it would inspire others to do the same thing,' Foster said Tuesday. 'I hope that it would encourage the Boy Scouts to rethink their position. After all, why do they discriminate against people?'"