Barbara Boxer: “I have an amendment that simply codifies a Court decision that was a victory for the Boy Scouts of America. When it was…”

“I have an amendment that simply codifies a Court decision that was a victory for the Boy Scouts of America. When it was announced, everyone said: OK, in our Nation, regardless of an organization's viewpoint, they have a right to equal access to our public schools; freedom of speech. For those people, and I count myself among them, who believe we are all God's children, and I abhor discrimination against anyone for any reason, including their sexual orientation, I thought: This is tough because if a school district really has a strong feeling and they believe this to be a fight for civil rights, they are still going to have to let the Boy Scouts in. But that is America. We allow equal access and that is the way it is. Now I have an amendment that simply guarantees this equal access, that says the Senate agrees on equal access for all groups, whatever their view is on sexual orientation. And I have people who stand up and say I am undoing the Boy Scouts. Again, my most enduring memory of my little girl, who is now a mother herself, is her in her little outfit when she was a little Brownie, and the character building that went with that. So no one can get up on the other side and say Members on this side do not care. We do care.…”