WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to punish public schools that deny the Boy Scouts equal access to their facilities, drawing fire from gay rights activists protesting the youth group's policy of excluding homosexuals.

Conservative Republicans said the legislation, approved 51-49 as an amendment to a far-reaching education reform bill, would protect the Boy Scouts and its nearly 5 million members between the ages of 11 and 17 against "discrimination" by school leaders unhappy with the group's policies.

Democrats countered that the amendment, which has already been approved by the House of Representatives, smacked of "gay bashing" and would undermine local authority. Led by California Sen. Barbara Boxer, Democrats moved to override the amendment pushed by North Carolina Republican Sen. Jesse Helms.

Under the Helms' amendment, public schools must provide the Boy Scouts with equal access to school facilities. Schools that fail to do so could lose their federal funding.

The Boy Scouts deny membership to any "avowed homosexual," saying homosexuality violates the Scouting oath to be "morally straight" and the Scouting law to be "clean."

On a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court last year upheld the Scouts' policy, ruling the private group had the right to set its own moral code and espouse its own viewpoint.

The Boy Scouts, who also exclude atheists and agnostics as leaders, argued they had the right to decide who should join their ranks and that forcing them to accept gays would violate their First Amendment right to freedom of association.

Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota warned that school districts could be forced to give the Boy Scouts "special privileges or lose thousands, perhaps millions, of dollars in federal aid to education."

DISCRIMINATION

Senate Republicans cited nearly 10 cases of discrimination against the Boy Scouts by public schools.

In November 2000, the Los Angeles City Council voted to cut the city's ties with the Boy Scouts, saying the group's exclusion of homosexuals and atheists was discriminatory.

"I don't know quite how to react to the fact that in America now even the Boy Scouts seem to be under attack. Is motherhood and apple pie next? Is there nothing sacred any more?" said Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi.

Gay rights groups protested the amendment, calling it anti-gay and unnecessary because the Scouts have never lost their right to meet in public school facilities.

"This is really an underhanded attempt to reward those who practice discrimination and punish those who value equality," said Winnie Stachelberg, political director of the Human Rights Campaign.

Senate Democrats said the amendment could end up benefiting white supremacist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan. "Senator Helms, in trying to pay a tribute to the Boy Scouts, has opened the door wide for mischief from every crazy group in America," said Sen. Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat.

To address these concerns, the Senate approved another amendment to limit the scope of the bill.

More than 90 million Americans have joined the Boy Scouts since the organization was founded in 1910. It now has nearly 5 million members between the ages of 11 and 17 and nearly 1.3 million adult leaders.

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