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Pen Points
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Boy Scout Recruiters invade Public Schools In the Forums: Badpuppy Members Object Recruiter Scouts on Taxpayers' Turf
I was listening to a local talk radio station here in Orlando the other day and some people called in about the following subject matter. I am interested in your opinions.
According to the callers the local chapters of the Boy Scouts of America go into the schools, interrupt the classes, pass out brochures and give a recruiting speech that will get the boys in the class interested in joining the scouts. Should a group that publicly discriminates be permitted to solicit new members in the public school systems? Should a group that makes members pay to join be permitted to make presentations in the public school systems and take up the valuable learning time for the students? Bill Rivers Make Noise, Florida! Of course any group like the Boy Scouts that has a policy of discrimination should NOT be allowed to recruit in or disrupt a tax supported institution. Could you imagine the KKK being allowed to do this? Besides the political and "morality" issue involved, think of the damage this does to children who are the victims of this discrimination. Unfortunately, the current administrations of Florida and the country may ignore the injustice and quietly endorse the Boy Scouts. I hope the people of Florida will make some "noise". Sirfur Excluding Gays & Atheists
Yes Bill, absolutely not should the Boy Scouts have any access to public schools. They are a private organization. Just as Little League cannot exclude girls from playing baseball or Pop Warner not exclude girls from playing football because it has been ruled discrimination. If they had chose to continue with their boys only policy they would have lost public support and faced the loss of access to public sports & practice fields, many of them on public school grounds. For the same reason the BSA should loose access for discrimination of excluding Gays & Atheists. Bigdog Separation of Church & State? My parish church has one of its clergy posted as chaplain to the local state college down the road. She goes in once a week, at the invitation of, and with the 75% approval of, the student council. Of course my church is split on the topic of gays, and many parishes discriminate against them. So should we be allowed to send a chaplain into a school at the request of the student body? T.O. The Boy Scouts Encourage Hate
The Boy Scouts has a long tradition and I was involved with them as a youth, but times have changed and the needs of our youth have changed. Yes, we gays also have a responsibility to act responsibly, with kindness and love, but until certain segments of society stop viewing us as predators and understand that we are what we are because of what is in our soul and that we are not gay or lesbian by some arbitrary decision like choosing what food to have for dinner, then things will never change. Until then, discrimination and disapproval of gay youth that the Boy Scouts condones and is encouraging will have devastating results. It is all too easy for a touted organization like the Boy Scouts to lead impressionable youth to think that hating gays is acceptable and then it is only one short step to violence. The kind of intolerance that the boy scouts condones and advocates leads to the same hate and self righteousness that caused the beating and death of Mathew Shepard whom I shall never, ever forget. In our lives I think we have all seen the hate and the devastation it causes to a youngster when others call a kid a "fag", "queer", "homo", etc. An organization that supports and condones this kind of discrimination and hate should not be allowed in recruit in our public schools, even if their name is the Boy Scouts. They may not think that's what their doing but I have seen far too many nice, kind and beautiful souls devastated by this kind of self righteousness to think otherwise. It's just not right!
Just my opinion Where Have I Been? Where have the Boy Scouts discriminated against scouts for being gay? Shadow Taxpayers Foot the Bill No, the Boy Scouts should not be allowed to actively promote their organization in a public school. I also disagree with organizations that come into schools, call an assembly for 45 minutes, and recruit young children to go out into their neighborhoods and sell their chocolate bars. Boy Scout organizations also are allowed to have evening meetings in the public schools. Taxpayers foot the bill for the added electricity, security and maintenance and clean-up after such events. The leadership in the Boy Scouts need to understand that they are indeed promoting hate and intolerance and they should not be rewarded by taxpayer funds, support or for that matter - they should not be rewarded by our silence on the matter. Dabbler Private Groups May Solicit at Private Schools 100% agreement... Keep them out of the schools. They have no right to be there in a Tax supported institution. Tell them to go solicit at private schools since they are a private organization if they want to. I would have no objection to that, but only to that. Tramp Adolph Hitler, Jr. Sounds Off Here in my town we have a similar situation. The Goy Scouts regularly come to our local school and solicit members. The Goy Scouts is a non-Jewish, private organization that promotes Scouting. It goes without saying that Jews are not allowed in the Goy Scouts - I mean the topic doesn't even need to come up during the proselytizing phase of the Goy Scout presentations. Jewish boys are allowed to join, and no-one really discriminates against them - if they do not cause Jew-related trouble, for instance wearing a yamulka, or refusing to eat cheeseburgers. But Jews are not allowed to be Goy Scout masters. Some people think that Jews teach penis mutilation, that they are dirty, and in extreme cases, people fear that Jews secretly sacrifice babies and drink their blood, so they are not allowed to be alone with goy children. Private organizations like Goy Scouts have a longstanding tradition in our community. The local Goy Leader is a third generation Goy Scout. I have serious doubts whether changes in the Goy Scouts should be forced on us by a tiny vocal minority who insist on special rights for Jews. Adolph |
As a former, Cub Scout, Boy Scout and Explorer Scout, I strongly feel the BSA (Boy Scouts of America) should be banned from the use of any and all public facilities until they withdraw their discriminatory and exclusionary polices.
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