A federal trial pits the Cradle of Liberty Council against city lawyers, who say the council's cheap headquarters lease should be withdrawn because the anti-gay policy violates Philadelphia's own antidiscrimination laws.
Eight jurors were selected Monday, and opening statements were set for Tuesday. The case was expected to last about a week.
The council has been fighting for seven years to try to keep its $1-per-year lease on a downtown Beaux Arts city building while adhering to the national organization's admissions policies.
In 2004, the council tried to thread that needle by adopting a statement saying it would not to engage in "unlawful" discrimination or accept prejudice and intolerance within its ranks.
The stance didn't satisfy the city. Mayor Michael Nutter has threatened to start charging $200,000 a year in rent unless the local council abides by a 1982 ordinance that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and other grounds.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2000 ruled that the Boy Scouts of America, as a private group, have a First Amendment right to exclude gays.
The youth group's Philadelphia council had adopted a more explicit nondiscrimination policy in 2003 to settle the issue - but was forced to retrench when the Boy Scouts of America ordered it to conform with national rules.
The local chapter followed with the 2004 nondiscrimination statement and later sued the city, charging free speech violations and viewpoint discrimination.
The issues involved in the Philadelphia case are not unique, as numerous municipalities, charities and private donors have moved to withhold support from the Boy Scouts because of the ban on gays.
"The laws and policies direct what the Boy Scouts must do to obtain rent-free occupancy of city-owned property; they do not compel the Boy Scouts to make any statement about religion, homosexuality, or any speech whatsoever," lawyers for the city wrote in a trial memo outlining their case.
The Cradle of Liberty Council contends the city's ultimatum violates their First Amendment rights. Their leaders also complain that the city subsidizes rents charged to other groups with selective membership rules, including a Roman Catholic parish and the Colonial Dames of America, a private women's group.
"The city has never asked any of these organizations to pay market or punitive rent, to abandon their membership policies or to leave their respective buildings," the council's lawyers wrote in their trial memo.
