Valero, other corporations, giving big to Boy Scouts despite anti-gay policies

Photo illustration by Chuck Kerr

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Petrella noted that the foundation has supported LGBT groups. "UPS believes in supporting all aspects of diversity. We support dozens of organizations regardless of race, gender, gender identity or sexual preference such as the Human Rights Campaign, and Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. In 2011, The UPS Foundation funded diversity-related projects totaling U.S. $7 million to 173 organizations across the country."

The UPS Foundation gave $100,000 to the Human Rights Campaign and $50,000 to PFLAG in 2010, and the corporation has an employee non-discrimination policy that covers sexual orientation.

Intel and the LDS Church

Intel — the Boy Scouts' largest donor among the corporations surveyed — has an explicit policy of not giving to groups that discriminate.

That policy, which applies to competitive grants, states that the Intel Foundation will not fund "organizations that discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, veteran or disability status."

The Intel Foundation also has a volunteer matching program that donates funds to a charity based an employee's volunteer hours. That program has a similar policy. It says that the foundation disqualifies "organizations that discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, veteran, or disability statuses" from the grant program.

Yet, according to tax documents, the Intel Foundation gave about $700,000 to Boy Scout chapters in 2010. Those donations came exclusively through the employee volunteer matching program.

Of that, more than $320,000 went to Boy Scout troops and councils connected to the Mormon Church. TAI contacted two of the regional councils overseeing those Boy Scout troops, but those inquiries were not returned.

The LDS Church became formally affiliated with the Boy Scouts in 1913. According to figures on the Boy Scouts of America website, as of 2011, there were nearly 38,000 scouting units sponsored by the Latter Day Saints. That's nearly 34 percent of all units nationwide.

And the LDS Church, which opposes "homosexual behavior," holds sway with the Boy Scouts of America.

In a brief filed in the landmark case of Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, a lawyer for the LDS Church warned that the church would leave the scouts if gays were allowed to be scout leaders.

"If the appointment of scout leaders cannot be limited to those who live and affirm the sexual standards of BSA and its religious sponsors, the Scouting Movement as now constituted will cease to exist, " wrote Von G. Keetch on behalf of the LDS Church and several other religious organizations in 2000. "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — the largest single sponsor of Scouting units in the United States — would withdraw from Scouting if it were compelled to accept openly homosexual Scout leaders."