Passing the Plate

by Bryan

5 comments

1 Mustang Bobby { 10.01.06 at 8:14 pm }

I’m sure the BSA means well, but one of the “values” they’ve been teaching recently is that it’s okay to be anti-gay.

2 Steve Bates { 10.01.06 at 10:26 pm }

Oh, Scouting Teaches Values, all right… right-wing bigoted values.

When I was a Boy Scout (full disclosure: I wasn’t a very good Boy Scout; I never rose above the rank of Star), one of my best friends in my troop was gay. I didn’t know it at the time, but we later went to high school together, and it was pretty obvious. Stereotypically, he even became an organist… a good one. He also happened to be the best at signaling I ever met… the two of us consistently won wig-wag and other Morse code competitions at camp, sometimes with perfect or near-perfect scores. In today’s Boy Scouts, this young man, who became a fine citizen IMHO, would have been excluded if he had been out. I cry foul.

I’ve read that the anti-gay stance of Scout leadership is legally OK because they’re a private organization. I have no sympathy for that technicality. They’ll get no help from me until they change the policy… if then. Values, MFA!

3 Bryan { 10.01.06 at 10:32 pm }

They also have some religious hang-ups that are cutting into their funding and conflicting with the non-discrimination laws in many states. You would think that Wiccans would be a good fit for Scouting. I’m just running the plates down in order, although the beneficiary link doesn’t seem to work properly for some of them. It’s a puzzlement.

4 Steve Bates { 10.01.06 at 10:54 pm }

… although the beneficiary link doesn’t seem to work properly for some of them. It’s a puzzlement.

ROTFL!

5 Bryan { 10.01.06 at 11:43 pm }

Steve, I figure one of the “tubes” must be clogged.