Group Concludes Defenders of the Boy Scouts Maryland Tour
Falls Church, VA - Public Advocate of the United States, a non-profit pro-family organization based in northern Virginia, completed a statewide "Defenders of the Boy Scouts" tour of Maryland today with a final stop at the Silver Diner in Rockville. The tour was part of the organization's campaign to fight a new fee structure in Montgomery County that ended the long-standing policy of providing free meeting space in public facilities for scouting groups. The new policy is an effort to punish the scouts because of their rights to impose moral criteria on scout leaders, which excludes homosexuals.
Public Advocate meet with grassroots activists, community leaders, and members of the press during the three day educational tour which included stops in Hagerstown, Frederick, Annapolis, Baltimore and Rockville. Participants were given packets that gave them background on the Montgomery County policies and the legal actions that Public Advocate has initiated with the U.S. Department of Education in relation to a new law that prohibits discrimination against the Scouts because of their moral leadership criteria. If the county is found to be in violation of the law then they would forfeit all $40 million of their federal education funding.
The Education Department's Office for Civil Rights acknowledged that they would be investigating the complaint thoroughly and that all those that participate will be federally protected from harassment and discrimination from Montgomery officials, an action that Public Advocate hopes will encourage more people to come forward with knowledge they may have on the situation, without having to fear any recourse the county may take as punishment for breaking their silence.
"The Department of Education has made it clear that any intimidation tactics that Montgomery County may be using to silence the truth must stop," stated Eugene Delgaudio, Executive Director of Public Advocate. "The county has been warned time and time again, but they refuse to step away from the school house door by reversing these hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees that they are charging these scouts. It is past time for them to put their extremist political agendas aside and do what is best for Montgomery children."
Public Advocate of the U.S. is a non-profit, tax-exempt 501.c.4 organization and is not affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America.