Ain't that a shame

PHILADELPHIA — The city has decided that the Boy Scouts chapter here must pay fair-market rent of $200,000 a year for its city-owned headquarters because it refuses to permit gay Scouts.

The organization's Cradle of Liberty Council, which currently pays $1 a year in rent, must pay the increased amount to remain in its downtown building past May 31, Fairmount Park Commission president Robert N.C. Nix said Wednesday.

City officials say they cannot legally rent taxpayer-owned property for a nominal sum to a private organization that discriminates. The city owns the land on which the council's 1928 Beaux Arts building sits.

Scouting officials will ask the city solicitor for details on the appraisals that yielded the $200,000 figure, said Jeff Jubelirer, spokesman for the Cradle of Liberty Council.

The higher rent money "would have to come from programs. That's 30 new Cub Scout packs, or 800 needy kids going to our summer camp," Jubelirer said. "It's disappointing, and it's certainly a threat." Full article

I can't stop laughing about this one, really. I can't wait to rub it in the faces of some of the people back home, either.

"Ain't that a shame. Those politicians are keepin' kids outta camp cuz--"

"Yes, it is a shame that your homophobic group's bigoted policies are having negative consequences on the children you're trying to help. That is certainly a shame. So much so that Boy Scouts should be, in fact, ashamed."