Dale v. Boy Scouts, again

[Malla Pollack]

The persons who have posted messages about a right to change one's mind
miss something which  IMHO is rather important.  BSA is a group, not a
person.
        One important reason to ask for earlier statements about
homosexuality is to discover whether the organization, the BSA, ever had
a position on homosexuality. The organization is not equivalent to what
ever the current leadership chooses to decide for reasons other than the
purpose of the group as historically manifested and publicly
disseminated to its large membership.  The organization should be
accountable to its members.
      Unlike religious leaders in some organized groups, furthermore,
the leaders of the BSA do not claim any devine guidance on the right
path when the organization reaches a fork in the road.  Lay leaders of
groups like the BSA should not be allowed to "hijack" the group into
following the current leaders' positions.
      If an organization wants to change its mind, that should be done
by what ever process is normally employed under the organization's own
rules.  Did the BSA ever do this before Dale was ousted?

Malla Pollack
Visiting Assoc. Prof. of Law
Northern Illinois Univ., College of Law
DeKalb, Illinois 60115
815-753-1160; (fax) 815-753-9499
mallapollack at niu.edu