DEAR REPRESENTATIVE:

We are writing today to urge you to reject the ``Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act'' which was offered as an amendment to the Leave No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (H.R. 1). This amendment would deny all Federal education funding to any school district or state education agency that has been found to ``discriminate'' against the Boy Scouts of America, or any other youth group that denies membership to gays and lesbians.

   The Hilleary amendment is an unnecessary, unwarranted intrusion into a local school district's ability to set standards for  the use of their own facilities, and bestows uopn the Boy Scouts and other youth groups unique rights that are not available  to student-led groups.

   The amendment is unnecessary because the First Amendment already guarantees the Boy Scouts the right to use public school facilities, to the same extent and in the same manner as any other group allowed to use those facilities.

   At the same time, the amendment is an unwarranted intrusion into the decision-making of local school boards because it mandates the creation of an ``open forum'' any time a school lets one community group use their facilities. The Hilleary amendment decrees that such an action transforms the school into an ``open forum,'' therefore requiring the institution to allow the Boy Scouts and any other anti-gay youth group to use school facilities or premises--regardless of the school's intention or the local school board's decisions on the matter.

   We, the undersigned organizations, strongly urge you to oppose this amendment. If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact Nancy Zirkin, Director of Public Policy and Government Relations--American Association of University Women (AAUW) or Jamie Pueschel, Government Relations Manager--AAUW.

   Sincerely,
American Association of School Administrators
American Association of University Women
American Counseling Association
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO
American Federation of Teachers
American Psychological Association
Americans for Democratic Action
Anti-Defamation League
Council of the Great City Schools
Council of Chief State School Officers
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Myra Sadker Advocates
National Association of Black School Educators
National Association of School Psychologists
National Association of Secondary School Principals
National Association of Social Workers
National Association of Girls and Women in Sport
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of La Raza
National Education Association
National Federation of Filipino American Associations
National PTA
National Rural Education Association
National School Boards Association
National Women's Law Center
New York City Board of Education
New York State Education Department
NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund
People For the American Way
School Social Work Association of America
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries

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