[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 86 (Friday, May 23, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1102]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATIVE COIN ACT

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                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 22, 2008

  Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, I rise to thank the Boy Scouts of 
America (BSA) for almost 100 years of volunteer service to communities 
throughout the United States. Service projects over the years have 
included food drives, clothes drives and blood drives. Boy Scouts have 
volunteered their time at disaster relief sites, created nature trails 
and written letters to our brave troops overseas. In fact, 
participation in service activities by the Boy Scouts America are so 
numerous that I could not possibly mention them all here. I would like 
to take this opportunity to commend the Boy Scouts of America for 
providing valuable assistance to our society and I look forward to 
their continued participation in communities throughout the U.S.
  Unfortunately, the Boy Scouts of America have used valuable resources 
to legally establish their ability to set exclusionary criteria for 
membership through a June 2000 Supreme Court ruling. Specifically, 
``the Boy Scouts of America will not employ atheist, agnostics, known 
or avowed homosexuals. . .'' This discrimination should not be 
supported by the U.S. government. Congress has a responsibility to 
encourage equality and as such, should not commemorate any organization 
that engages in the practice of discrimination in any form.
  Furthermore, H.R. 5872 provides that a $10 surcharge per coin be 
distributed to the BSA Foundation ``in the form of grants for the 
extension of Scouting in hard to serve areas.'' I do not believe that 
the government should have a hand in raising funds for any organization 
that actively discriminates. Nor should the government raise funds for 
an organization that has a history of using valuable resources to 
legally establish the ability to maintain an exclusionary criterion for 
membership as the BSA has done.
  As such, I must oppose this legislation. This Congress has a 
responsibility to defend against social injustice. Congress must set 
policies that demonstrate our ability to overcome, once and for all, 
the type of thinking that seeks to separate us.

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