Thursday, May 29, 2003

Gay Philadelphia

Good for the Philadelphia Boy Scouts for recently deciding that they would not deny admission from their organization based on sexual orientation. Let’s hope many other regional groups and, eventually, the national Boy Scouts follow their example.

The Boy Scout guideline that seems to be dissuading other groups from allowing homosexual members is the code that scouts should be “morally straight.” This does not include gays, of course, who are consistently knocking over trashcans, kicking old women, and running up federal deficits. Oh, wait.

Denying membership because of sexual orientation tells the other kids in Boy Scouts that being gay is wrong and precludes you from being a good citizen. More broadly, it tells them that discrimination is an acceptable form of admissions procedures. These are not the values that should be perpetuated among children, teens, or frickin’ adults for that matter.

I very sincerely hope that America’s attitude towards homosexuality shifts in the near future. Same sex marriages are still illegal in all 50 states. Gays and lesbians are still not authorized to disclose their sexuality to the armed forces. Even anal sex between two consenting heterosexual adults is illegal in some states. And, with few exceptions, gay boys, girls, men, and women are not given the chance to serve their community through the Boy or Girl Scouts. This seems absolutely ridiculous to me.



P.S. Like I mentioned, I’m here in Long Beach for a few days for my mom’s graduation. JetBlue is awesome. I watched CourtTV and VH1 Classics on the flight down. Long Beach is smoggy and the tap water tastes like feet. There aren’t enough trees, and the air is oppressively thick. Worst of all, the nearest Trader Joe’s is three miles from my house.

posted by Rebecca C. Brown at 5:07 PM

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