The Cradle of Liberty Council of the Boy Scouts of America recently filed a legal brief criticizing Liberty City LGBT Democratic Club for supporting efforts to evict the Scouts from a city-owned building it occupies rent-free.
The brief was in response to Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter’s request to be updated on a case that has dragged on for nearly four years, with almost two years in Buckwalter’s court.
For those who haven’t followed every twist and turn, the city took the Cradle of Liberty to court to evict members because it refused to comply with local antidiscrimination laws. Cradle of Liberty took the city to court alleging it was infringing upon the BSA’s First Amendment right to exclude gays from the organization.
In 2010, a jury decided in favor of the city on two of the three issues the Scouts sued on, finding only that the city had violated Cradle’s constitution rights by allegedly asking it to repudiate the national BSA’s antigay policy.
Since then, the city and the Scouts have been trying to negotiate a deal to sell the building to the Scouts. Though a deal had been announced — in which the Scouts would have bought the building for less than market value and agree to stop pursuing legal fees from the city — City Council didn’t approve it.
Throughout the case, the Cradle has repeatedly tried to come across as the victim, using inflammatory rhetoric in an effort to bolster its position.
In this latest filing, the Cradle accuses LGBT activists of having a “vendetta” against the council because it wouldn’t denounce the national anti-gay policy “from the highest mountaintop.”
It continues, “When Cradle of Liberty refused, the city used the only leverage it had and threatened to take away a benefit unless … Cradle of Liberty cried ‘Uncle.’”
By Cradle’s own admission, staying in a city-owned building rent-free is a “benefit.”
The brief also calls former City Solicitor Romulo L. Diaz a “pawn” of LGBT activists.
As to Liberty City, the Cradle submitted a letter the club sent to Sen. Bob Casey opposing consideration of City Solicitor Shelley Smith for a federal judgeship based on her handling of the Scouts case.
Specifically, Liberty City’s letter claimed Smith “grossly mishandled and lost the [Scouts’ eviction] case, then failed to support an appeal, then proposed a sweetheart deal with the Boy Scouts,” and detailed “fundamental errors in the handling of the case.”
The Scouts claim that Liberty City tried to “damage” Smith’s career.
In truth, if the LGBT activists weilded such “power and influence,” wouldn’t Smith be out of a job already — if that was their goal?
The brief further derides the LGBT activists, stating, “These activists will stop at nothing short of complete victory over Cradle of Liberty,” as though this conflict was a war, and accuses them of “McCarthy-like zeal.”
Interestingly, the brief states that the Cradle expelled Greg Lattera in 2003, though asserts it was because he “went on television in his Boy Scouts uniform to promote a political agenda at odds with the National Boy Scouts.”
Call it what they may, it’s a bit of a stretch to characterize coming out as “promoting a political agenda.”