Protesters want gays in Scouts

GRAPEVINE, Texas – Holding a sign in Tuesday’s heat, Scott Cozza said he is not discouraged that Boy Scouts officials have refused to meet with him about their policies against openly gay and atheist members.

“We’re never gonna give up on this,” said Cozza, a California resident and president of Scouting For All, which wants the Boy Scouts of America to admit gay and atheist children and parents. “We’re gonna be in their faces until the policy is reversed.”

Cozza and 10 others were protesting outside the entrance to Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center near Fort Worth, Texas, where the Scouts’ national meeting runs through Friday.

About 3,000 people are attending, most of them volunteers and representatives of charter organizations, such as churches and community groups, Boy Scouts spokesman Gregg Shields said

The Scouts’ policy to not include openly gay and atheist members has been in place since the organization was founded in 1910, Shields said.

Organization leaders, including Scouts President John Cushman III and Chief Scout Executive Roy Williams, will not meet SFA members, he said.

“There’s no reason for us to meet,” said Shields, noting the Scouts’ board of directors affirmed the policy in 2002. “Our parents and charter organizations approve of this policy. They (the protesters) may have 15 people with signs or a letter with 100 signatures – we have four million members meeting every week. Our members vote with their feet.”

Earlier Tuesday, Cozza and his group dropped off letters at the Scouts’ national headquarters in Irving, Texas, asking that the group change the policy and that Cushman and Williams resign.

The protest will continue today at the entrance to Gaylord Texan, Cozza said.