The Connecticut State Employees’ Campaign Committee is presently considering an appeal of a ruling by the state’s Commission for Human Rights and Opportunities to bar participation of the Boy Scouts in its charitable giving program; it is alleged that the Scouts are discriminating against homosexuals and should therefore be ineligible. The Boy Scouts are challenging this motion and are awaiting a decision by the campaign committee; a decision is expected within the next three weeks.
The program allows state employees the opportunity to contribute to charitable groups. Lawyers for the Scouts have filed suit in federal court asking that the group be permitted to rejoin the charitable giving list. In the course of this probe, it was revealed that Catholics for a Free Choice is on the approved list of charities. This drew the attention of Catholic League president William Donohue:
“The Catholic League is making a formal appeal to the Connecticut State Employees’ Campaign Committee to drop Catholics for a Free Choice from its eligibility list. Because this bogus group is listed as a qualified group by the Independent Charities of America, we will appeal to them as well.
“In 1993, and again in 2000, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) have charged that Catholics for a Free Choice is not an authentic Catholic voice. For example, in a statement last month by NCCB president Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, he said ‘the group’s [CFFC] activity is directed to rejection and distortion of Catholic teaching about the respect and protection due to defenseless unborn human life.’ Moreover, he argued that CFFC ‘promotes positions contrary to the teaching of the Church as articulated by the Holy See and the NCCB.’
“There is no way that any state program would allow Jews for Jesus the right to participate, and neither should Catholics for a Free Choice be allowed. Indeed, whatever can be said of Jews for Jesus, few would accuse it of sponsoring bigotry. The same is not true of Catholics for a Free Choice—it is expressly anti-Catholic. Ergo, it is unethical to award it state funds.”
