Philadephia owes $877G after trying to evict Boy Scouts
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The city of Philadelphia must pay nearly $900,000 after a failed effort to evict the Boy Scouts of America over the scout's ban on gays, a judge ruled Wednesday.
The post-trial ruling is just the latest twist in a decade-long legal dispute over the Boy Scout oath, which requires members to be "morally straight."
The two sides have sought a compromise that would let the local Boy Scouts chapter keep its rent-free, city-owned headquarters without violating the national scout policy.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}However, a tentative deal struck since the city lost a court case last year has fallen apart. U.S. District Judge Ronald Buckwalter therefore said the city must pay $877,000 for the scouts' legal fees.
The order is a setback for the financially strapped city. City Council passed on a proposed deal to resolve the conflict -- and avoid paying the legal fees -- by selling the scouts the building for $500,000, Mayor Michael Nutter told the Philadelphia Daily News.
"We do not as a city support that kind of behavior," Nutter said Wednesday. "We've tried to take a number of steps to get the Boy Scouts out of a city-related building."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The city insisted at a June 2010 trial that nonprofits given free use of its property must abide by local anti-discrimination laws, which include equal protection for gays. But the jury found the city's reason violated the local scout council's First Amendment rights.
"The city defended this suit in a very principled way," Buckwalter said after the verdict.
The local Cradle of Liberty Council has tried to walk a fine line between appeasing the city, the United Way and other supporters and the Irving, Texas-based Boy Scouts of America.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In 2003, it enacted its own nondiscrimination policy but was forced to repeal it when the Boy Scouts of America ordered it to conform with national rules. The chapter later enacted a statement that says it doesn't tolerate illegal discrimination.
There has been just one known case of a gay scout being ousted from the Philadelphia chapter, although the city argued that more were perhaps scared off by the national policy.