[Winona Online Democracy]
At 05:33 PM 4/3/01 -0400, Dean Lanz wrote:
>Ed Thompson wrote "It is intended primarily as a character-building program".
>Please don't take this personally Ed because it seems to me that you do not
agree with the ban on gays, but just how does maintaing a discriminatory,
homophobic policy on gay boys and men build character?
>
Surely, Dean, you understand that scouting is a very extensive program which
has successfully operated for more than 90 years, growing and changing with
the times and, like other organizations, making some wrong turns. One
policy at the national level certainly doesn't negate the hundreds of other
positive things scouting has done for kids and will continue to do for kids.
There is a big word in scouting: honor. It would be really stupid, and
dishonorable, of me to deny my sons (I have three, all in scouting) the
benefits of scouting because of one policy which I disagree with (and, yes,
find dishonorable) and which has negligible effect on local scout units. In
fact, this can be an excellent "teaching moment" - an opportunity to discuss
what these young men really do and do not beleive; an opportunity to
understand that people are not perfect and we make poor decisions that can
hurt other people; an opportunity to help them understand that
discrimination exists in the real world, and we must all fight it from
within. Pulling away never solved any problems, and I don't think it ever
will - maybe I can also teach that to the boys in my troop. How's that for
helping build character?
Ed
*******************************************************************
Ed's witty saying for this week:
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted and
then used against you.
*******************************************************************
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