After a meeting last week with senior executives from the United Way in Chicago, members of the Chicago Anti-Bashing Network announced that the agency will likely make a decision about funding for area Boy Scout troops by May 31.
"We thought that they were really listening to us, but at the end of the day, actions speak louder than words," said Andy Thayer, CABN co-founder. "We know we have an uphill battle."
Thayer and CABN members Bob Schwartz and Jill Youmans met with several United Way executives, including out-going President Bill Ketchum, Chief Operating Officer Hugh Parry, Senior Vice President Rich Sewell, Communications Director James Kales and others.
"I thought it was a good meeting," Kales said. "We really appreciate that they came in and met with us."
CABN members have been working to persuade the United Way to follow in the footsteps of agencies around the country and not direct any of its charitable dollars to local chapters of the Boy Scouts of America.
Activists nationwide have waged a war against the Scouts since last June's Supreme Court decision gave the Scouts the right to ban gays.
Schwartz, a former Scout, said he stressed to executives the damage being done to young gays who may be involved in Scouting. "Absolutely the wrong message is being sent out," he said.
CABN also gave executives a list of alternative programs for boys that do not discriminate, including 4-H, the Chicago Boys Club and Mayor Daley's embattled summer jobs program for teens.
May 31 is the United Way's next board meeting, and Thayer said CABN hopes to meet with board members soon. Between now and then, United Way volunteers will be evaluating their funding policy, which states that funded agencies must be in compliance with federal, state and local discrimination laws, Kales said.
"We're not singling out the Boy Scouts," he said.
The Chicago United Way allocated roughly $424,000 to the Boy Scouts last fiscal year, representing about 1.5% of all of the money distributed, Kales said. He added that the bulk of the money went to an in-school program for boys and girls called Learning for Life, and not to individual troops.
In response to donor concerns, United Way is allowing givers to deselect the Boy Scouts from receiving any of their donation, Kales said, meaning people can still support the organization's other member agencies.
Thayer urged members of the community to contact the United Way "while the iron is hot."
"People need to make their feelings known now," he said. "Our community can make an important difference right now by politely contacting them."
While Thayer and Schwartz characterized their meeting with executives as cordial, they said CABN did issue a word of warning.
"If they make the wrong decision, they become the target of protests, and we made that quite clear to them," Thayer said.
Last September, Evanston United Way became the first in the area to withhold funding from the Scouts.
"They have been a United Way agency for a long, long time, doing good things for kids," Barbara Schwartz, president of Evanston's United Way, told the Chicago Tribune. "It was a difficult decision that we came to, and it came down to the discriminatory policy."
Letters to the United Way should be directed to: James Kale, Director of External Communications, Chicago United Way Crusade of Mercy, 560 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL 60661.
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