The Merck Foundation has announced it
will no longer fund the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) over its ban on
gay scouts and leaders.
“The Merck Foundation has decided to
suspend funding to the BSA,” Brian Grill of the Merck Foundation
said in a letter to Scouts
for Equality. “The decision to suspend support applies to
direct funding from the Merck Foundation, the matching of gifts from
Merck employees, and paid time off for volunteering.”
The
BSA reiterated its ban in July.
“[W]e cannot continue to provide
support to an organization with a policy that is contrary to one of
the our core beliefs. We remain ready and willing to re-consider our
funding position in the event that the BSA were to revise its
policy.”
Merck joins other BSA sponsors,
including
the Intel Foundation and the UPS Foundation, in deciding to only
support organizations which do not discriminate on the basis of
sexual orientation.
GLAAD President Herndon Graddick said
of the announcement: “These companies are helping to bring change
to the Boy Scouts of America by speaking out against the
discriminatory policy and in support of the young people who are
harmed by it. The Boy Scouts of America should take the health of
their organization into account and focus making scouting open to
all, rather than working to keep an outdated and unpopular ban in
place.”