Schools move against Anti-gay scouts

Six months after the United States Supreme Court voted 5 - 4 to affirm the right of the Boy Scouts of America to exclude gay people, Schools Chancellor Harold Levy decided to enforce, at least in part, a local law banning the city from doing business with groups that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

The New York Police Department continues to refuse to sever its relationship with the Scouts’ Explorer program, but new police commissioner Bernard Kerik told lgny that he “would take a look at” the department’s affiliations with the anti-gay group.

Levy drew praise at press conferences on December 2 and 4 at City Hall.

“In the best case scenario, Chancellor Levy would have done it the day after” the Supreme Court decision, said Councilmember Christine Quinn, an out lesbian, “but government is not the fastest acting” institution in the world.

State Senator Tom Duane, also out gay, said that he looks forward to lobbying Levy to support his Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) in Albany which would ban anti-gay discrimination in schools. Duane and Assembly Education Committee Chair Steve Saunders are lead sponsors of DASA in the legislature.

State Assemblymember Deborah Glick, the first out lesbian or gay elected official in the city, met with Levy several times to get him to this position.

“He comes out of Wall Street,” Glick said, “one of the last bastions of ageism, sexism, and homophobia, but I think he’s been open to the conversation” and “is beginning to grasp” gay and lesbian concerns. She said that Levy is a “breath of fresh air” compared to his predecessor Rudy Crew, who dismissed gay issues out of hand.

Levy acted after several city district school boards –– most recently the Upper West Side’s District 3 led by Larry Sauer, another out gay official —moved to end special treatment for the Scouts. But the Chancellor will continue a huge two-year contract with the Scouts’ Learning for Life program that was just renewed in September and will only be re-evaluated in 2002.

Edgar Rodriguez, a police officer who is the former head of the Gay Officers Action League (GOAL) and a member of the New York Coalition for Inclusive Scouting, used the occasion of a gay community reception for Kerik held December 7 at G to bend the commissioner’s ear on the scouting issue. The reception was hosted by GOAL, other groups, and Duane. Don Jarak, GOAL’s current president, told lgny that he also opposes the NYPD’s sponsorship of the Explorers.

Andy Humm, LGNYonline