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	SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) -- Facing the possible loss of up to $1
million in funding, Boy Scouts of America leaders refused to budge
Tuesday on the organization's hard-line stand forbidding homosexuals
from participating in the youth group.

	Buford Hill, the BSA's western regional director, said the
organization was not going to be intimidated into change by the threat
of a loss of funds from the Bay Area United Way. The latter organization
has been reviewing its financial commitment to the Scouts.

	``The recommendations being made by the United Way of the Bay Area
would force Scouting to walk away from more than eight decades of good
work and solid values upon which the BSA has been built,'' Hill said. 
``We will not allow that to happen. Our values and principles are not up
for negotiation.''

	The recommendations contained in the United Way's Task Force report,
which has yet to be made public, gave the Boy Scouts two options.

	First, the BSA could review, consider and change its position of
disallowing homosexuals to be members or leaders. If that position is
not possible than the six local BSA councils should be given an
exemption from the national BSA bylaw, on a pilot basis, to adopt a
local policy that allows homosexuals in the Bay Area to become members
or leaders.

	``The report reads like an ultimatum, and we find it inappropriate
and inconsistent with the long, productive relationship we have had with
United Way of the Bay Area for half a century,'' said Hill.

	Two scout troops -- one in San Jose and another in Berkeley -- already
have risked sanctions from the national BSA governing body by refusing
to implement the ban. A group of homosexual scouts and former scouts --
called the Forgotten Scouts -- also have targeted the national body.

	``Change is difficult,'' said Ken McPherson, Forgotten Scouts co-
founder. ``We recognized that from the beginning. United Way finds
itself in a difficult position, but the position they (officials of the
United Way) appear to be ready to take shows a great deal of
understanding and its a clear step forward.

	``We now feel it's time for the Boy Scouts to open a dialogue and
learn who we are as people. Many gay people are among the best role
models the community has to offer,'' McPherson said.

	The recommendations will not become official until a vote by the Bay
Area United Way's Board of Directors on Thursday.

	``I hope that the Board of Directors of the Bay Area United Way will
reject this Task Force report when they review it on Thursday,'' Hill
said. ``I know that the members of this Task Force meant well in their
efforts, but they are advocating a position that is unacceptable and
untenable for the Boy Scouts of America.''

	Hill noted that the potential impact of the Task Force report on the
Bay Area community is significant. Nearly 100,000 Bay Area youths
participate in Boy Scouts of America programs.

	``However, we cannot allow the mission of the BSA to be changed by
the United Way of the Bay Area in San Francisco,'' Hill said. ``We hope
it is not the intent of the United Way of the Bay Area to ask the BSA to
'negotiate' on the values, principles and standards that we hold dear.
We consider ourselves partners with them in serving the youth of
today.''

	United Way of the Bay Area included the Boy Scouts in its campaign
for fiscal years 1992-93. In addition to the $849,345 allocated to the
six local councils in 1991-92, the Scouts received $326,000 in United
Way gifts that doners earmarked for that organization.

	In calling the Task Force report unacceptable, Hill said the BSA's
national executive board of directors -- composed of volunteers from
across the country -- last week voted unanimously to reaffirm the BSA's
position forbidding homosexuals as members or leaders.

	In May 1991, the Superior Court in Los Angeles upheld the national
BSA position.