Orwellian: California Bars Judges From Joining Boy Scouts
Wednesday, 18 Mar 2015 06:43 PM
If you're one of the 2,200 judges in California, you'll soon be prohibited from belonging to the Boy Scouts.
Effective on Jan. 21, 2016, judges will be barred by the state from being members of the Boy Scouts because the organization, while allowing gays to be Boy Scouts, still bans openly gay scout leaders, the Christian Post reports.
Cathal Conneely, spokesman for the Judicial Council of California, told the Christian Post that the California Supreme Court decision removes an exemption in the California Code of Judicial Ethics allowing membership in youth organizations, which brings the state into line with recommendations of the American Bar Association's Model Code of Judicial Conduct and 21 other states with "sexual orientation as a protected class."
Richard D. Fybel, chairman of the state's Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Code of Judicial Ethics, said, "The only remaining exception to the general rule is membership in a religious organization. One other exception, belonging to a military organization, was eliminated as well, because the U.S. armed forces no longer restrict military service based on sexual orientation."
The ruling has met with opposition from some judges, such as San Diego Judge Julia Kelety, who told National Public Radio, "The issue is whether individual judges can choose in their private lives to be involved in an organization that has tremendous qualities and provides tremendous support for young people. "
"I don't think that a person appearing in my court would think that I'm biased or unfair simply because I help my sons out in their Boy Scout troop," Kelety said.
By a vote of 61-39, the Boy Scouts last year voted to allow gay Scouts in the organization, but still refused to allow gay troop leaders.
On the day of the vote, John Stemberger, an Eagle Scout, told NPR, "We recognize that on this day, the most influential youth program in America has turned a very tragic corner. The vote today to allow open and avowed homosexuality in the Boy Scouts will completely transform it into an unprincipled and risky proposition for parents."
Stemberger is a founder of OnMyHonor.net, an alternative scouting group that became part of Trail Life USA, which states on its website, "The basis for the program’s ethical and moral standards is found in the Bible. In terms of sexual identification and behavior, we affirm that any sexual activity outside the context of the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman is sinful before God and therefore inconsistent with the values and principles of the program."
Robert Glusman, former president of the California Judges Association, told the Christian Post, "Would a judge be able to join an organization where black men could not be part of the organization? I don't think that would be as close a question. Here, we're dealing with gay men or LGBT. So, we put it in a slightly different framework, but there is something that rankles many of the judges about that."
Harvard Law professor Noah Feldman questions whether the ban would stand the test of legal appeal.
"You have a free-exercise right to pray where you wish. You have a free-association right to belong to whatever club you wish to belong to," Feldman told the Christian Post, "and I don't actually think the distinction between the two is constitutionally justified."
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© 2015 Newsmax. All rights reserved.Effective on Jan. 21, 2016, judges will be barred by the state from being members of the Boy Scouts because the organization, while allowing gays to be Boy Scouts, still bans openly gay scout leaders, the Christian Post reports.
Cathal Conneely, spokesman for the Judicial Council of California, told the Christian Post that the California Supreme Court decision removes an exemption in the California Code of Judicial Ethics allowing membership in youth organizations, which brings the state into line with recommendations of the American Bar Association's Model Code of Judicial Conduct and 21 other states with "sexual orientation as a protected class."
The ruling has met with opposition from some judges, such as San Diego Judge Julia Kelety, who told National Public Radio, "The issue is whether individual judges can choose in their private lives to be involved in an organization that has tremendous qualities and provides tremendous support for young people. "
"I don't think that a person appearing in my court would think that I'm biased or unfair simply because I help my sons out in their Boy Scout troop," Kelety said.
By a vote of 61-39, the Boy Scouts last year voted to allow gay Scouts in the organization, but still refused to allow gay troop leaders.
On the day of the vote, John Stemberger, an Eagle Scout, told NPR, "We recognize that on this day, the most influential youth program in America has turned a very tragic corner. The vote today to allow open and avowed homosexuality in the Boy Scouts will completely transform it into an unprincipled and risky proposition for parents."
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Robert Glusman, former president of the California Judges Association, told the Christian Post, "Would a judge be able to join an organization where black men could not be part of the organization? I don't think that would be as close a question. Here, we're dealing with gay men or LGBT. So, we put it in a slightly different framework, but there is something that rankles many of the judges about that."
Harvard Law professor Noah Feldman questions whether the ban would stand the test of legal appeal.
"You have a free-exercise right to pray where you wish. You have a free-association right to belong to whatever club you wish to belong to," Feldman told the Christian Post, "and I don't actually think the distinction between the two is constitutionally justified."
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