In a stunning display of overt judicial activism, the California Supreme Court Advisory Committee is proposing to classify the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) as practicing “invidious discrimination” against gays in order to prohibit anyone affiliated with the group from serving as a judge in that state.

The Daily Caller is reporting that the Committee wants the new classification in order to end the BSA’s exemption to anti-discriminatory ethics rules, which it has enjoyed since its inception due to its male-only membership. However, the new classification would also prohibit judges from being affiliated with the group.

“The Committee’s invitation ignores the fact that the change also encompasses other youth organizations whose membership is limited on the basis of gender, e.g., the Girl Scouts, as well as the military, which continues to practice ‘discrimination’ on the basis of gender,” wrote Catherine Short, legal director of the pro-life group Life Legal Defense Foundation, in a letter to the Committee.

“This proposed amendment has as its overtly-stated purpose the branding of the BSA as an organization whose members must be assumed to be biased and thus unfit for the bench. The Committee states that ‘eliminating the exemption… would enhance public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary’,” she continued.

“On the contrary, by promoting a hierarchy of politically-favored ‘victim’ status through pointlessly impugning the integrity of members of a venerable American institution, the proposed Amendment will communicate to the public that judges are being told by the California Supreme Court what to think, whom they may associate with, and what are permissible opinions to hold, and that only those who toe the line will be allowed to sit on the bench. The public can hardly expect impartiality from the judiciary in such a climate of intolerance.”

According to the Committee, California’s high court decided to prohibit judges from belonging to groups that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in 1996, but made an exception for nonprofit youth organizations.  This was done in order to accommodate judges who serve as leaders for their sons’ troops.

As the LA Times reports, since 2003, California judges are advised “to disclose their membership in cases where it might be relevant and to be prepared to step away if a litigant questioned the jurist’s impartiality.”

To date, of the 47 states that ban judges from joining discriminatory groups, 22 include a ban on groups that are biased based on sexual orientation. California is the only one of these 22 states to allow an exception for youth groups.

This didn’t stop the public from voicing their outrage over the Committee’s move. Comments on the Daily Caller story were overwhelmingly negative.

“Atheists discriminate against Christians, can they be judges?” asked a commenter named “Dilligaf”.  “Muslims discriminate against Jews and Christians, can they be judges? Chinese discriminate against Japanese, can they be judges? Blacks discriminate against whites and whites discriminate against blacks . . . guess that rules them out too, doesn’t it?”

Another commenter wondered how anyone could think it’s okay to “discriminate in order to not discriminate.”

This is the second time this week the BSA has made the news due to its new policy against gay troop leaders. On Monday of this week, the BSA was forced to revoke the charter of Ranier Beach United Methodist Church in Seattle after the parish decided to stand by openly gay Scoutmaster Geoffrey McGrath.

“Because the church no longer agrees to the terms of the BSA chartered organization agreement, which includes following BSA policies, it is no longer authorized to offer the Scouting program,” said BSA spokesman Deron Smith to NBC.

Zach Wahls, Executive Director of Scouts for Equality, bemoaned the decision, saying that it would only “hurt a group of boys who need the values and leadership of someone like Scoutmaster McGrath.”

However, the whole episode may have been just another event staged to attract public sympathy for homosexuals.

The church’s pastor, Rev. Monica Corsaro, asked McGrath to lead their troop even though he was openly gay and the Scouts voted last year not to allow gay troop leaders.

BSA Scout Executive Sharon Moulds told NBC News that the national office was not aware of McGrath’s sexual orientation until she was contacted by a reporter in March.

“It was then that we became aware of his intentions to make a public statement about his orientation and use our program as a means to further a personal agenda,” she said.

According to BSA, a Seattle-area community center has offered to take over Troop 98, and the organization has no plans to review its current policy.

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