WASHINGTON -- In the current heightened climate over gay rights, the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday refused an appeal by the Boy Scouts of America to force Connecticut to put the group back on a list of charities that get donations from state workers even though the Scouts exclude gays.

Without comment, the high court dashed hopes of the Boy Scouts that the justices would agree with the group that Connecticut's decision that the Scouts' prohibition on gay members violated the state's anti-discrimination and gay rights laws was itself discriminatory against the Scouts.

The refusal of the court to take the case means that Connecticut, after 30 years, will no longer give the Scouts about $10,000 a year from a voluntary payroll deduction fund raised from state employees to be divvied up among 900 charities.

The setback for the Scouts was a departure from the recent trend at the Supreme Court to side with them. In 2000, in a highly controversial case, the court ruled in a 5-to-4 decision that the Boy Scouts of America, which has 2.5 million Scouts and 1 million adult leaders, may have a policy that gays may not be Scout leaders because it is a private group and may set its own moral strictures.

The court's rationale was that the Scouts have a First Amendment associational right not to admit homosexuals. The state of New Jersey had tried to force the Scouts to admit gays under its public accommodations law after the Scouts refused to let a gay scoutmaster continue in that role.

In the Connecticut case, the Scouts argued that they were being excluded from the list of charities eligible for funds solely because of the values they hold and the conduct required of their members.

The Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities argued that it does not take any position on the qualifications the Scouts impose on members or leaders, but that under state law it has a legal duty not to be party to any form of discrimination.

The Boy Scouts are worried that this could be the start of a trend of states restricting Scout activities under state laws. The Scouts have another significant case pending in California, where the city of San Diego is trying to ban them from maintaining a canoeing, kayaking and swimming center on city park property because of the Scouts' policy banning gay members.

Also yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that while people pleading guilty to crimes are entitled to an attorney, judges don't have to warn them of the disadvantages of not seeing a lawyer.