Gays and Scouting
Everybody is in an uproar over the Boy Scouts changing their policy prohibiting gays from being Scouts.
Ever since its inception the Scouts have had high ideals and morals, based on Christian teachings. My Bible tells me that homosexuality is a sin, an abomination in the eyes of God. As as result of this change of heart, Christian churches are ceasing sponsorships of Scout troops. Many businesses had already stopped sponsoring troops because the Scouts hadn’t already changed to allow openly gay boys and men to participate.
Discrimination isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Discrimination is really a matter of taste. You either like something or you don’t. Some discrimination you can’t help, like you do or don’t like certain foods. Some are a matter of exposure, like clothes styles or music. Trying to gain acceptance for some things through forced exposure just makes some people dig in their heels and refuse to budge.
As we go through life, we will deal with, work alongside, live next to, and even find out that we are kin to gays, but we don’t have to like it or embrace it. You cannot legislate morality or acceptance. When the public schools were forceably desegregated, private schools sprung up all over America like weeds. Many white people did not want their children going to school with blacks for many reasons, mainly fear. Fear of mixed race dating, fights, lower quality education, and other reasons, real or imagined.
People don’t want to be forced to let their sons join a troop where gay Scouts and leaders are because they fear homosexual attacks on their sons; somebody may try to “convert” their sons. This new policy will cause many Scouts and troop leaders to quit, lessening the quality of instruction to young men and boys, but who cares? Everybody is getting “equal treatment.”
The situation wasn’t “broken” and didn’t need “fixing.” Gays were allowed to be Scouts or serve as leaders, but not openly. The status quo was actually better than the new deal. Straight young men were Scouts alongside gays, unbeknownst to them, and they were learning to function with gays without showing bias or discrimination. They were learning that gays are just men with different desires or interests. Now, a lot of boys will grow up knowing that their Scout troop was disbanded because of gays.
Nobody has to be a Scout. If you don’t like the rules, you can always start your own organization, excluding anyone you wish. After all, it is a private organization. Ban redheads, those over six feet tall or under five feet tall. Or just allow anybody and everybody who wishes to join, but don’t destroy an American institution just because you feel you have “rights.” Everyone else has rights too.
Cameron Triplett
Brooksville
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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