"I know the vast majority of people in scouting would not identify themselves with the right wing," said Dean Carr, an atheist Eagle Scout, co-founder of the Northwest Coalition for Inclusive Scouting and family-practice physician. "But I think the whole organization is being pushed to a far more conservative edge than it ever has in the past.

"The only way the policy is going to get changed in the long run is for a core of people putting pressure on from the inside."

Carr and nine others handed out leaflets Thursday outside the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, where about 2,000 people were attending the 24th annual Friends of Scouting Breakfast, a fund-raiser for scouting's regional Chief Seattle Council.

Among the protesters was Darrell Lambert of Port Orchard, a 19-year-old Eagle Scout the council kicked out in November after he declared himself an atheist.

Lambert, who earned 37 merit badges in more than a decade with the Boy Scouts, has appealed the council decision, which is being reviewed by the western regional office in Tempe, Ariz.

As a private organization, the Boy Scouts has the right to exclude certain people from membership. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the group's ban on gay leaders in 2000.

Shortly after the court's decision, the Coalition for Inclusive Scouting was founded, with independent groups springing up in New Hampshire, New York, Michigan, California and now the Northwest.

The Northwest group's founders include Carr, Lambert, Dr. Brian Grant and Robert Raketty, Northwest regional director of Scouting for All, a 5,000-member organization based in Petaluma, Calif.

In flyers handed out Thursday, the coalition asked attendees if the Scout's exclusionary policies matched their personal beliefs. If not, the leaflets said, "how long will you sit on the sidelines, implicitly endorse and support the organization's stance with your donations and silence?"

The issue drew mixed responses from the crowd.

Scott Oki, a council board member and retired Microsoft millionaire, said he supports the Scouts' right to set membership rules. He said he would welcome more diversity, but he believes strongly in the program.

"Perhaps they're a more conservative organization than I desire," he said, "but I can live with that. I think the values they deliver for kids are tremendous."

Scout father and local banker Alex Tulintseff said he believes all people should be allowed to participate.

"I have a son in Scouts," Tulintseff said. "I believe my duty as a parent is to teach him tolerance."