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UNITED WAY AND HOMOSEXUALITY

The United Way chapter of Providence RI (UNITED WAY OF SOUTHEASTERN NEW ENGLAND) is in the news for wanting to cut off funding to the Boy Scouts due to its position on homosexuality. They have given them 5 months to lift the ban on homosexuals or will pull more than $70,000 in finances.

Also, Bob McConnell, president of the Broward County (Ft. Lauderdale) United Way, said "they are reviewing whether to continue funding of the Boy Scouts." They have a committee checking to see whether their anti-discrimination policy has been violated. The phone number for that United Way office is 954-462-4850 (press "zero" to speak to the receptionist).

Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality said, "It looks like they (gay activists) are going to use the United Ways in various cities to try to go after the Scouts (from Citizen Issues Alert, July 26,2000).

Also, Congress Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-California, is attempting to revoke the federal charter that Congress gave the Scouts in 1916(WorldNetDaily report).
email Rep. Lynn Woolsey

Some outlets, like Conservative News Service, have treated this as a newer push. However, it isn't. U.W. of SF did this back in '92. Other United Way chapters followed suit in '93 and by early '96, six such chapters had initiated such policies (CA: Santa Clara, Santa Cruz; NM: Santa Fe; Maine: Portland; CT: New Haven). Since then, only Somerset Co., NJ had enacted such a policy.

Important Points to Keep in mind:

United Way is NOT a top-down structured entity; U.W. of America is primarily involved only in public relations & training...it does not issue directives on which entities U.W. chapters will or will not fund. U.W. of America itself does not give grants. Therefore, it is difficult to hold U.W. of America or even particular chapters accountable for the actions of individual chapters. Therefore, evaluate your own chapter based on that particular chapter's merits. To do this, you can...
Ask for a list of organizations being funded out of their office (e.g. some U.W. chapters fund Planned Parenthood or homosexual organizations);
Ask the chapter if there has been any serious discussions of excluding funding vs. Boy Scouts.
To best determine a local chapter's position on abortion, the best way to find out is to first discover if that chapter has an information & referral program (I&R). If it does, the constituent can call that # in order to find out if that chapter refers for either abortions or abortion counseling. If it provides such referrals, it is an indicator that this particular U.W. chapter views abortion as some sort of helpful "solution"...in other words, such a chapter is more a part of the abortion culture problem.

(Note this excerpt from a U.W. press release: "...many United Ways provide an information & referral (I&R) service for people to call when they need help and don't know where to turn. Many I&Rs will refer callers to any legal service available, such as abortion counseling, even if United Way provides no funding for that service."--Aug. '93, "United Way & Planned Parenthood" )

Please contact your representative and senators and urge them to oppose Woolsey's effort to revoke the Scouts' charter. Contact your local United Way, and the national United Way office, to tell them that the Scouts deserve support.
United Way of America
701 N. Fairfax Street
Alexandria, VA 22314-2045
Phone: 703-836-7100

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