Press Release
Humanists Misled by Philadelphia Scouts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Washington D.C., June 12, 2003) Just after the American Humanist Association (AHA) issued
a press release praising the Philadelphia based Cradle of Liberty Council of
the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) for publicly breaking with the BSA’s
non-discrimination policy, the Philadelphia Council expelled 18 year-old
Gregory Lattera for revealing that he is gay. AHA executive director, Tony
Hileman said, “As Humanists we highly value the integrity of character
displayed by honest statements backed up by congruent action. We naïvely
took the Scouts at their word, but won’t make the same mistake again.”
Lattera has spent the past three years working as a Life Scout and at a BSA
camp for the local Cradle of Liberty Council. William T. Dwyer, the Scout
Executive for this Philadelphia based Council, sent a memo explaining that
the non-discrimination policy only applied to the “Learning for Life”
program run within public schools. Tony Hileman responded, “This scouting
group essentially lured Gregory Lattera into trusting them and then turned
their back on him at their first opportunity. Such actions show that this
scouting organization is not living the Scout Law that calls for scouts to
be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, kind and brave.”
AHA president Mel Lipman added, “We were congratulatory of their success in
forming a non-discrimination policy, but were fooled into thinking that they
would actually put this policy into effect. Because of this inconsistency
another Scout, who was one project away from being recognized as an Eagle
Scout, has been kicked-out and stripped of his accomplishments.”
Dwyer has asked Lattera to sever all ties he has with the Boy Scouts of
America saying, “You went and made your sexual orientation open. If you had
just kept your mouth shut and been a good scout and employee you wouldn’t
have this problem.” According to, Hileman, “Lattera ‘wouldn’t have had this
problem’ if the BSA Council simply stood by its word. If the Philadelphia
Council had kept ‘morally straight,’ as the Scout Oath claims, the
non-discrimination policy would have guided Dwyer’s actions.”
The AHA continues to call for the Boy Scouts of America to discard its
prejudiced policies. Equal consideration is not only a Humanist conviction
but it is an American principle.
# # #
The American Humanist Association is the oldest
and largest Humanist organization in the nation. The AHA is dedicated to
ensuring a voice for those with a positive outlook, based on reason and
experience, which embraces all of humanity.
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