The Council claimed: The City has imposed an unconstitutional condition upon Cradle of Liberty's receipt of a benefit that Cradle of Liberty has enjoyed for nearly eight decades, and that many other organizations that limit members or services to members of a particular group continue to enjoy without punishment or the threat of punishmentThe Boy Scouts of America is a private, non-profit organization engaged in instilling its system of values in young people.

The BSA National Office sent Cradle of Liberty a cease-and-desist letter which threatened dissolution of the council if it failed to adopt the policies set forth by the National office, and the council rescinded its non-discrimination policy at the annual BSA meeting.

[6][9][10] In July 2006, Mayor Street again told the council to either change its policy, pay fair market rent or leave the city-owned Marks Scout Resource Center.

The commission issued its notice to the Scouts on July 24, 2006, stating they could avoid eviction if they began paying fair-market rent or accepting gays, Diaz said.

[11]However, citing "rising violence and other urban ills daily threatening Philadelphia's teens," some community leaders[who?]

questioned the objectivity of city solicitor Romulo L. Diaz, Jr., himself openly gay, in moving to evict the Scouts but not worrying about similar deals with churches who restrict attendance to members.

Street's successor, Mayor Michael Nutter said in a televised debate on NBC 10 Live @ Issue, "In my administration, we will not subsidize discrimination.

The scouts claimed their civil rights were being violated, and the firm Drinker Biddle took the case pro bono.

[23] Under federal Civil Rights Law, the Cradle of Liberty Council Council is also entitled to collect its $877,000 of legal costs from the city's unlawful action to abridge the Boy Scouts' Constitutionally protected civil right of Freedom of Association.

[4] On March 2, 2012, the Federal judge then formally ordered the city pay all of the Boy Scouts legal fees and denied the motion for an appeal to settle the matter.

[24] On May 3, 2013, the City withdrew its appeal and agreed to pay the Cradle of Liberty Council $825,000 for improvements made to its building over the past 85 years.