[Winona Online Democracy]
Clay,
I appreciate your attempt to clarify the discussion. Your last sentence
reminds me of something I find puzzling in discussions about gay/lesbian
issues--I've often heard someone say something like "I don't agree with
homosexuality but I think homosexuals should have the same legal rights as
anyone else." My puzzlement is over the use of "agree."
I don't think homosexuality is something with which you can agree or
disagree, any more than you can agree with someone's ethnic background, or
agree with their gender. Maybe what the hypothetical person is saying with
this statement is "I don't approve of homosexuality..."? Phrased that way,
it's easier to see what's really going on, and easier to understand
formulate any number of responses (like "Why is it your responsibility to
approve or disapprove of someone else's sexuality?" or "Even if you don't
approve or even accept non-straight sexual orientation, can we agree that
mutual tolerance of all kinds of differences is a crucial cornerstone of
our society?")
Scott Lowery
> Thanks to you all for thinking about this and expressing your
>opinions. This is a great case of E-democracy at work. The only
>point that I can add to this discussion is that it's easy to confuse
>cases of what's "right" with what's socially acceptable and/or legally
>just. Socially acceptable behaviour changes as the population changes.
>What's "just" in our country comes down to giving everyone the benefit of
>the doubt, and treating them with the same fairness, respect, and
>protection that you would expect to receive yourself. This is a case
>where the BSA has not yet realized that what they teach boys to model,
>based on what is "just," is in conflict with their rules at an
>organizational level because those rules were made when socially
>acceptable behaviour was more narrowly defined. If you have ever read
>the story of how the Boy Scouts got started, it was in reaction to an act
>of kindness: an anonymous young boy showed up on a street corner to help
>a foreign visitor find his way. The stranger, touched by the genuine
>spirit of giving by this youth, founded the Scouts. Did he write in the
>first draft "no queers allowed?" I doubt it. Someone along the way has
>injected their own agenda out of their own fears and ignorance, polluting
>the initial intentions of teaching young people to offer assistance and
>compassion without asking for anything in return. If you ever found
>yourself alone in a place where you don't fit in to the scene, such as
>the BSA founder did, I'd bet it would be nice if a stranger would walk up
>and offer a hand in kindness. And I'll bet it would never cross your
>mind to ask whether they were gay or straight. The United Way supports
>the Boy Scouts of America in all of the principles that they teach, just
>not they governing body. By discriminating due to sexual preference, the
>BSA has gone against their own principles and has failed to realize it.
>Once the correction has been made within BSA, I'm sure that the United
>Way would gladly renew their support. Until then, this is no more than a
>*peaceful* embargo against a group that has chosen to treat a part of
>their population as unsavory and unacceptable. Finally, postings that
>equate gays and lesbians with criminal parts of society are offensive.
>I belong to neither of those groups, but I know that they are our
>teachers, our co-workers, our relatives, and our leaders. If you don't
>agree with homosexual activity, don't engage in it. Peace. Clay
>Templeton [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Scott Lowery
461 Sunnyview Drive, Rollingstone MN 55969
home phone: (507)689-4532
school phone: (507)453-3888
home email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
school email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be
counted counts." Albert Einstein
"You can fool too many of the people too much of the time." James Thurber
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