The Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act was passed to prevent State and Federal agencies from reducing their support for the
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...
(and other youth organizations) based on their policies. The bill was passed in the wake of a number of
controversies involving the Boy Scouts of America, such as their exclusion of gay people and atheists, and subsequent attempts to limit government support of the organization.
In particular, the bill states that no school receiving Department of Education funds:
shall deny equal access or a fair opportunity to meet to, or discriminate against, any group officially affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, or any other youth group listed in title 36 of the United States Code (as a patriotic society), that wishes to conduct a meeting within that designated open forum or limited public forum, including denying such access or opportunity or discriminating for reasons based on the membership or leadership criteria or oath of allegiance to God and country of the Boy Scouts of America or of the youth group listed in title 36 of the United States Code (as a patriotic society).
Schools are not required to allow access to the Boy Scouts or similar organizations if they do not have a designated open or limited public forum, that is, if they do not provide meeting space for any outside groups.
The bill was included as Sec. 9525 in the
No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based education ...
, which was signed into law on January 8, 2002.
See also
External links
Full Text of the Actfrom the US Dept. of Education
on the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act from the Boy Scouts of America
discussing the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act from a site critical of the Boy Scouts of America
Acts of the 107th United States Congress
Boy Scouts of America
United States federal education legislation
United States federal legislation articles without infoboxes
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