Midwinter Report: ALA Asks Boy Scouts To "Reconsider" Discriminatory Membership Rules

Staff -- Library Journal, 2/8/1999

After voting to clarify policies regarding the American Library Association's relations with external organizations, and forcing a revision of a proposed resolution regarding membership practices of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), the ALA Council voted overwhelmingly to urge the BSA "to reconsider their policy of discrimination in the areas of sexual orientation and religious belief." At issue were BSA's policy of excluding from membership youths who are gay or profess no belief in God. Recent BSA applications of that policy have excluded even Unitarian boys from membership.The Council rationale for ALA's action was based on ALA's "long relationship" with BSA, and ALA's policies declaring its support for gay rights and opposing all forms of discrimination. The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), the ALA division with which the "long relationship" exists, opposed the action on the grounds that ALSC has authority for library service to children, and the relationship is only an "informal" one.