If you just arrived in America today, you might assume the all-male youth organization dedicated to snappy, highly accessorized uniforms and manly woodland excursions would be a fun, tolerant group of people. Instead, like a gay delusional Christian on their wedding night, you just wind up frustrated and confused.
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is symbolic of America’s tortured conscience, its delusional self-image problem. That is why an organization which says that its goal is to help boys become young men of character and virtue kicks out ones that not only have scrupulously demonstrated their worth for years, but displayed true moral courage as few people that age will ever do. The BSA can and will boot you for being gay or for not believing in a god— two things that have nothing to do with character or virtue. It’s not exactly the hallmark of patriotism either. The BSA bills itself as deeply patriotic, but kicking out people for being different? Where is respect for freedom in that? How can you good ol’ American liberty while persecuting people?
Whoever is propping up these comically obsolete strictures are clearly very frightened people. They deeply fear change, the future, and people who are either not like them… or are a little too much like them for their comfort, and that’s a shame. I was never a scout or interested in scouting, but I understand many are and that it means a lot to them. Excluding them so sooth insecurities is just grotesque and I defy you to watch this and not agree:
http://youtu.be/biDYvZdEcnE?t=9m5s
But wait, aren’t they are private group? Isn’t it their right to discriminate?
Well, yes and no. Thanks to a congressional charter, they do get a load of tax dollars. That’s outside the scope of this writing, but watch Penn & Teller to learn more about that.
But the answer is yes, they are nominally a private organization that can define its own rules and regulations, including hateful ones. That’s why we are calling for a boycott. As a private individual, you have the right to choose not to support them.
The Chick-Fil-A fiasco from earlier this year proved that public sentiment and boycotting can push even large organizations (or corporations) away from socially regressive positions. This may be one reason why both Intel and UPS has ceased all of its funding of the BSA. Kudos to them.
What you can do
- Help us raise awareness and keep the conversation going
- Do not support the BSA by buying Christmas trees/wreaths from them
- Do not donate funds until and unless they change their policies
- Do not participate in any capacity
Check out more coverage of this boycott at the following blogs.
A Voice of Reason: Al Stefanelli
Arizona Atheist
Atheist, Intermarried
Atheist Pig
Atheist Revolution
Avante-Garde
Barrels of Oranges
Bitchspot
Camels with Hammers
Dangerous Talk
Daylight Atheism
De-Avanzada
Debunking Christianity
Deep Thoughts
Deity Shmeity
Dispatches from the Culture Wars
Emily Has Books
Friendly Atheist
Hausdorff’s Bible Blog
Incongruent Elements
Kriss the Sexy Atheist
Laughing in Purgatory
Left Hemispheres
Martin Pribble
My Humorous Agenda
Ramblings of Sheldon
Reason Being
Rippere, Always Evolving
Skeptically Left
