Boy Scouts Only Indirect Or Incidental Aid By A City For Religious Discrimination.

The plaintiffs are adults who are either lesbians or agnostics and who use two parks which are partially leased by the City of San Diego to a nonprofit corporation chartered by the Boy Scouts of America. Plaintiffs allege the leases violate provisions of the California and federal Constitutions relating to the Establishment of Religion and the denial of Equal Protection of the laws because the Boy Scouts prohibit atheists, agnostics and homosexuals from being members or volunteers and require members to affirm a belief in God. The Ninth Circuit found the leases do not violate the Constitutions because they at most constitute indirect or incidental aid by the City for a religious purpose, and reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs.  Mitchell Barnes-Wallace V. City Of San Diego, (Boy Scouts Of America-Desert Pacific Council) (Ninth Cir.; December 20, 2012) (Case No’s. 04-55732, 04-56167).