CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Market Punishes Boy Scouts”

“Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America have a constitutional right to exclude homosexuals, corporate support for the organization has been diminishing and its public image has been eroding. Despite concerns that this ruling might make discrimination against homosexuals socially acceptable, the free market is proving the opposite. Various corporations, banks, and grant-making foundations are refusing to give to the Scouts, and the financial loss could end up totaling millions of dollars. Some parents are removing their children from the organization, and some scouts are joining Scouting for All, a group that does not exclude homosexuals. To all those who believe that only government can address discrimination, think again. The free market can respond quite effectively. The discriminator has the right to discriminate and people have a right to penalize the discrimination by withdrawing support.”