[Newspoetry] Invisible Hand Bitch-Slaps Boy Scouts

Tue Aug 29 14:00:42 CDT 2000

Yes. The first time I ever saw pornography was when it was being passed
around the Troop 7 bus on our way to some public campground. Photographs
of a woman in a French Maid Uniform stimulating herself with a feather
duster, which the Star and Life scouts were very excited about. I found 
the pictures somewhat horrifying but understood I was expected to appear
delighted. The scoutmaster, whose name happens to be Milt Forsberg,
walked up and down the aisles nodding approvingly as several
Penthouse-style mags circulated.

Despite this, I am not convinced that the scoutmaster, or the scouts, were
heterosexual. And I always wondered about that "Order of the Arrow"...

          w w w .
          w o r d
          w o r k  
          . o r g

On Tue, 29 Aug 2000, Joe Futrelle wrote:

> ----- Forwarded message from futrelle at ncsa.uiuc.edu -----
> This article from NYTimes.com 
> has been sent to you by Joe Futrelle futrelle at ncsa.uiuc.edu.
> 
> Scouts' Successful Ban on Gays Is Followed by Loss in Support
> 
> August 29, 2000
> By  KATE ZERNIKE
> 
> In the two months since the United  States Supreme Court ruled that
> the  Boy Scouts of America have a constitutional right to exclude
> gays, corporate and governmental support for  the organization has
> slipped markedly. 
> 
>  Chicago, San Francisco and San  Jose, Calif.,  have told local
> Scout  troops that they can no longer use   parks, schools and
> other municipal  sites. Companies like Chase Manhattan Bank and
> Textron Inc., have  withdrawn hundreds of thousands of  dollars in
> support to local and national scouting groups nationwide. Dozens of
> United Ways from Massachusetts to San Francisco  have cut off 
> money amounting to millions of dollars each year. 
> 
>  And  Connecticut, in what may   become a test case, has banned
> contributions to the Scouts by state employees through a state-run
> charity.  The state is also considering whether  to block the
> Scouts from using public  campgrounds or buildings. 
> 
>  "It's a watershed issue," said C.  Joan Parker, assistant counsel
> to  the  Connecticut Commission on Human  Rights and Opportunities,
> which  must issue a ruling by Nov. 8 on  whether the Scouts violate
> state antidiscrimination laws. 
> 
>  If the commission rules that the  group does violate those laws,
> the  Boy Scouts would be  prevented from  using any public
> facilities. 
> 
>  "We have to decide, Are we aiding  and abetting someone that
> discriminates?" Ms. Parker said. "Clearly,   any public entity 
> needs to have clean  hands." 
> 
>  Gregg Shields, a national spokesman for the Scouts, said the 
> organization respected the right of private  companies to donate
> only to groups  of their  choice. But the organization  is suing
> the State of Connecticut to  restore state employees' ability to 
> donate to the Scouts, and  Mr. Shields  said his group would  fight
> to maintain access to public schools and  public places in other
> states as well. 
> 
>  "The Boy Scouts of America since  1910 have taught traditional
> family  values," Mr. Shields said. "We feel  that an avowed
> homosexual isn't a  role model for those values." 
> 
>  For public and private officials  around the country, the problem
> is a  complex and painful one. On the one  hand, they do not want
> to cut off  valuable opportunities for the young  or run afoul of
> First Amendment  principles. On the other hand, by  allowing a
> group that bans gays to  use public facilities and supporting  it,
> they violate their anti discrimination statutes. 
> 
>  The trim uniform of the Boy  Scouts has become almost a cherished 
> national symbol. But at a time  when same-sex benefits, diversity 
> training and nondiscrimination policies have become routine, some
> companies and  organizations say the  Scouts' refusal to admit gays
> has  come to seem almost un-American. 
> 
>  "Their position is, on the face of it,  in conflict with our
> commitment  and  our values on diversity," said Jim  Finn, a
> spokesman for Chase, which  had contributed about $200,000 annually
> to the Boy Scouts until stopping  it last month. 
> 
>  The Supreme Court ruled in June  by a 5-to-4 vote that the
> organization  had a constitutional right to exclude  gays because
> opposition to homosexuality is part of the organization's 
> "expressive message." 
> 
>  The decision overturned a ruling  last year by the New Jersey
> Supreme Court that applied the state's  law against discrimination
> in public  accommodations to require a New  Jersey Scout troop to
> readmit a longtime member and assistant scoutmaster, James Dale,
> whom it had  dismissed after learning he is gay. 
> 
> But the ruling did not address the  merits of the ban on gays, only 
> whether the Boy Scouts is a  private  group, and so has  the right
> to set its  own membership rules. 
> 
>  The Scouts, whose membership  has grown to 6.2 million, said that
> the group's charter since 1910 had promoted "family values," and
> that its  oath pledged  a  "morally straight"  life.     A
> homosexual, the organization  said, is not the  proper role model
> for  those values. 
> 
> While the decisions to withhold  support will not seriously  dent
> the  $125 million raised annually by the  Scouts national
> organization, the  growing effort to block local chapters from
> meeting in places like public schools and state campgrounds  raises
> practical problems for the  Scouts.       Since the ruling, many
> public  bodies, charities and companies, including Merrill Lynch,
> are beginning  the  discussion that has taken place in  Hartford.
> The options, they say, are  equally unpleasant: hurting children 
> who are benefiting from scouting, or  supporting a position they
> find ethically untenable. 
> 
>  "Do we just cut off funding, and so  hundreds of kids in Hartford 
> aren't  getting a program they so desperately need?" asked Susan
> Dunn,  senior  vice president of the United Way of  the Capital
> Area. "Our mission  is to  serve our community, especially 
> children. But it's also in our  mission  that we don't
> discriminate. That's  where it becomes difficult." 
> 
>  The American Civil Liberties  Union filed a lawsuit against the
> city  of San Diego on Monday asking a  federal court to revoke a
> 50-year-old  agreement that lets the Scouts lease  18 acres of
> parkland for $1 a year.  The lease is set to expire in 2007. 
> 
>  In Fall River, Mass., the executive  director of the local United
> Way,  Bob  Horne, said  he was stunned at how  swiftly and strongly
> his board had  acted to cut support to any Scout  troops that did
> not sign a form saying  they would not endorse the Scouts'  ban on
> gays. 
> 
>  "I thought that some people would  try to skirt the issue," Mr.
> Horne  said. "But attendance was unbelievable, the best attendance
> we've had  all year.     It could not have been a  more unanimous,
> enthusiastic vote.  Obviously, there  was concern for the  kids,
> but it all came down to we  really have an  obligation to do the 
> right thing." 
> 
>  More than half the population of  Fall River, an old mill city,
> has Portuguese immigrants in its background, and an influx of
> Cambodians  has arrived in the past few years. 
> 
>  "With those growing groups," Mr.  Horne said, "people are being
> more  aware of diversity  and doing things  right and being fair
> and not setting  up separate views,  the idea that people are
> people.     "People felt very   strongly that we should take this 
> step."   Those who are eliminating or  reconsidering their support
> are trying to respect, as the Supreme Court  affirmed, the Scouts'
> right to set its  own mission. 
> 
>  And cutting off money or access to  one private group raises more
> questions, officials say. Do those same  charities  then cut off
> financing to  groups chartered to serve, say, Latinos? Do states
> stop allowing Roman Catholic youth groups to use  public
> campgrounds or school meeting rooms because the church does  not
> ordain gays? 
> 
>  Among those debating whether to  end support, some are reluctant 
> to do  so because they believe the local  Scout chapters do not
> agree with the  ban on gays, which was put into  effect by the
> national organization. 
> 
>  "Everyone knows their work with  kids is good, and it's a policy
> that's  not commonly enforced," said Marty  Milkovic, executive
> director of the   United Way of Northern Fairfield  County, in
> Connecticut. 
> 
>  Like chapters in many other cities,  the Southeastern New England
> United Way  in Providence, R.I., has said  it will require any
> Scout council  to  sign a form saying it will not  discriminate.
> But the Boy Scouts' Narragansett Council, which receives  $200,000
> from the United Way, has  said it must abide by the national 
> policy. And Mr. Shields, the spokesman for the national group, said
> local  councils were not allowed to disavow  any part of  the
> national charter, so  the councils are not allowed to sign  any
> nondiscrimination policy that  would require them to admit gays. 
> Troops that disobey the national  charter could face eviction. 
> 
>  Within the local councils, though,  there is increasing dissent
> from the  policy. Scouting for All, a group  started by a
> 15-year-old scout in  California, that advocates opening up the 
> organization to gays, held a national   protest day outside Boy
> Scout  headquarters in several cities last  week. In Montclair,
> N.J., parents in a  local Cub Scout troop are signing a   petition
> saying they do not endorse  the national policy. 
> 
>  In New Milford, Conn., Gale Alexander said he and his wife were
> torn  about whether to allow  their 9-year-old son to remain in the
> Boy Scouts.  They like the skills and self-confidence the program
> has taught but,  Mr. Alexander said, "I couldn't look  at my
> friends if I couldn't stand up  and say this is  not right." 
> 
>  So as a compromise, the Alexanders are letting their son continue 
> scouting, but they have decided to  become vocal in their 
> opposition to  the policy. In conversations,  they  have discovered
> that other parents  do not  agree with it, either. 
> 
>  "The idea that all the rank and file  is just fine with this is
> just a  bunch of  malarkey," Mr. Alexander said.  "It's time now
> for parents to  speak  up and say, I don't agree with it. It's 
> time for people to start  fighting from  within." 
> 
>   &nbsp;
> 
> 
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> Joe Futrelle
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> Newspoetry dot com
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