DALLAS, Aug. 25 (CWNews.com)

    Several large corporations that traditionally donate large sums to the Boy Scouts of America have announced they have pulled their support or are reconsidering the donations following a Supreme Court decision that allows the Scouts to exclude homosexuals from membership, according to a report by The Associated Press.

    San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co. and Wells Fargo have already pulled their funding. Rhode Island-based Textron has decided not to give $3,000 to an annual dinner for the Scouts. Chase Manhattan Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co. have said they are reconsidering their contributions. Media conglomerate Knight Ridder has asked the United Way not to use its contributions to fund the Boy Scouts. Most of the companies cited the Boy Scouts' policy as diverging from their own employment policies.

    The United Way of America, which gave $8.3 million of the Scouts' annual $11 million in charitable contributions in 1996, said it did not know how the controversy would affect future funding. General Electric Co. was among several companies that said it will not change its policy of giving to the United Way because of the reciprocal funding.

    Gregg Shields, a spokesman for the Texas-based National Council of Boy Scouts, said he could not predict the impact of corporate withdrawals, but funding has remained stable. "What really makes scouting work is the scout leader and the volunteer -- but that's not to diminish the financial contributions that companies make," Shields said.

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