Boyscouts dissed by California lawmakers, Girl Scouts honored

[Satori]

Boy Scout Resolution Fails To Get Support After Criticism About Organization's Policy Toward Gays but honors Girl Scouts who include everyone.

http://www.10news.com/news/23171489/detail.html

[dogmom327]

While I'm glad to hear the Boy Scouts being called out for their discriminatory practices and policies--isn't the state of California broke? Aren't there other things the legislature should be working on?

[Jaesun's Dad]

-isn't the state of California broke? Aren't there other things the legislature should be working on?

Well, San Francisco Supervisors just passed a Meat Free Monday resolution ...

I was a boy scout but I never got a merit badge in political posturing.

[TiredX2]

"Were the policy of the Boy Scouts to be that we exclude all African-Americans or Asian-Americans or Latinos, or any minority group, I don't think there would be a single member of the Legislature that would commend them," the Judiciary Committee's chairman, Los Angeles Democrat Mike Feuer, said in an interview later.

This makes him sound ignorant. Gays and athiests (both excluded by the boy scouts) *are* minority groups. Not racially, but in the actual definition of the term minority.

"Equality for gays and lesbians shouldn't have to be an issue that's brought down to our children's level," said Assemblyman Curt Hagman, R-Diamond Bar, an Eagle Scout and author of the Boy Scouts resolution. "Political agendas at the Capitol got in the way of this."

ITA. Equality for gays and lesbians SHOULDN'T have to be an issue that's brought down to our children's level. Equality for gays and lesbians should spread across all of society and not need to be addressed at all because it was a self-evident fact. While groups still fight for their right to descriminate, even against small children, though the issue has be addressed.

[TiredX2]

Originally Posted by Jaesun's Dad

I was a boy scout but I never got a merit badge in political posturing.

I'm sorry, I think I'm missing something. Was this addressed to the topic of the OP?

TIA

[Sarah W]

Originally Posted by TiredX2

This makes him sound ignorant. Gays and athiests (both excluded by the boy scouts) *are* minority groups. Not racially, but in the actual definition of the term minority.

I think that's exactly what he's saying...that they don't deserve to be commended and there would be no debate if it was any other minority group that had been excluded.

[TiredX2]

Originally Posted by Sarah W

I think that's exactly what he's saying...that they don't deserve to be commended and there would be no debate if it was any other minority group that had been excluded.

He may have meant that, but he didn't actually say it. Pet peeve of mine, I guess.

ETA: He said "any minority group" not "any OTHER minority group" meaning that gays are not considered a minority group per his statement.

[AmandasMom]

My daughter is in GS and I love it. She gets to do so many different things with so many different people from all walks of life. My son isn't old enough to be in Boy Scouts, but when he is old enough I would really like him to get the same experience as DD does. But the whole discrimination thing with the BS bothers me. It bothers me even more they are allowed to openly discriminate. I don't want to be around others who openly discriminate. The moms in my GS troop know I don't believe in God, they just shrug their shoulders and that's the end of it. But in BS they could kick me out and that would hurt my son. But is it mostly the organization, or is every single BS troop required to discriminate? I mean I don't go around talking about my beliefs, and I don't care if people talk about God (I'm in TN, belive me there is a lot of God talking around here!!), I just want to do Boy Scout stuff.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by TiredX2

He may have meant that, but he didn't actually say it. Pet peeve of mine, I guess.

ETA: He said "any minority group" not "any OTHER minority group" meaning that gays are not considered a minority group per his statement.

ok, REALLY STUPID question, but don't gays make up like 10% of the general population? That's not exactly a minority. Maybe its because of living in California but you can't throw a stick without hitting someone gay it seems. To me it would seem more like the Boy Scouts are simply discriminating against 10% of the population.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by AmandasMom

My daughter is in GS and I love it. She gets to do so many different things with so many different people from all walks of life. My son isn't old enough to be in Boy Scouts, but when he is old enough I would really like him to get the same experience as DD does. But the whole discrimination thing with the BS bothers me. It bothers me even more they are allowed to openly discriminate. I don't want to be around others who openly discriminate. The moms in my GS troop know I don't believe in God, they just shrug their shoulders and that's the end of it. But in BS they could kick me out and that would hurt my son. But is it mostly the organization, or is every single BS troop required to discriminate? I mean I don't go around talking about my beliefs, and I don't care if people talk about God (I'm in TN, belive me there is a lot of God talking around here!!), I just want to do Boy Scout stuff.

I look at it this way and I'm sure its going to tick some people off but would you let your son hang around racists? Even if there just a little bit when compared to the skin heads? (or what ever there called these days, the KKK people) If the answer is no then why not? Little voice in my head says "They would rub off on my child and pass on the hate because that vibe is going to come up even if its not spoken" I think the same applies to the Boy Scouts, even if its not actively discussed that vibe will be there and passed on to your son imo.

[lotusdebi]

The way I look at it is: What if your son is gay or bi? What if your son invests all this time and energy into the Boy Scouts, and then comes out of the closet? How hurt, how crushed, is he going to be that he is no longer accepted into the organization, even after working so hard and so long and developing so many relationships? How is he going to feel about himself when those who he has looked up to for so long as mentors suddenly reject him?

There are alternatives to Boy Scouts. And you can always create your own group that does similar things.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by lotusdebi

The way I look at it is: What if your son is gay or bi? What if your son invests all this time and energy into the Boy Scouts, and then comes out of the closet? How hurt, how crushed, is he going to be that he is no longer accepted into the organization, even after working so hard and so long and developing so many relationships? How is he going to feel about himself when those who he has looked up to for so long as mentors suddenly reject him?

There are alternatives to Boy Scouts. And you can always create your own group that does similar things.

That was also a thought I was thinking and forgot to include in my post. A good alternative to BS is Spiral Scouts who accept everyone

[mamadelbosque]

Good for california! I too am struggling with this - DS1 is only 3 but I just know that boyscouts is going to be offered, and hes going to want to do it. If they didn't discriminate I'd be totally OK with it... but they do. And I just don't know what we'll do when he's in school and wants to be in boyscouts. We live in a very rural area and there is simply no way that spiral scouts would go over OK, or have any members w/ boyscouts already firmly established. It just wouldn't. So, IDK.

[Monarchgrrl]

Originally Posted by Satori

ok, REALLY STUPID question, but don't gays make up like 10% of the general population? That's not exactly a minority. Maybe its because of living in California but you can't throw a stick without hitting someone gay it seems. To me it would seem more like the Boy Scouts are simply discriminating against 10% of the population.

10% is just an estimation that includes in-the-closet gays. Openly gay people make up much less than 10%. And here's Wiki's definition of minority:

"A minority is a sociological group that does not constitute a politically dominant voting majority of the total population of a given society. A sociological minority is not necessarily a numerical minority — it may include any group that is subnormal with respect to a dominant group in terms of social status, education, employment, wealth and political power. To avoid confusion, some writers prefer the terms "subordinate group" and "dominant group" rather than "minority" and "majority", respectively. In socioeconomics, the term "minority" typically refers to a socially subordinate ethnic group (understood in terms of language, nationality, religion and/or culture). Other minority groups include people with disabilities, "economic minorities" (working poor or unemployed), "age minorities" (who are younger or older than a typical working age) and sexual minorities."

So, yeah, gays are a minority. Yep, there's a lot of us in CA but still nowhere close to not being a minority. Just the fact alone that we are discriminated against in the military, can be fired for being gay, and can't get married shows that we are treated as subordinate and a minority.