Action Alert
Scouting for All
For Immediate Release and Distribution
September 15, 2006
Contact
Scott Cozza, President
Scouting for All
E-mail: cozzahived@aol.com
Tel: 707-778-0564

Scouting for All's 7th Annual National Recognition of Gay and Atheist Scout and All Gay and Atheist Youth Month - October 2006


 We are asking Scouting for All supporters (members, volunteers, Scouting for All Alliance for Human rights members) nationally and internationally to join us in recognizing gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth and atheist youth.

 We are also asking members of PFLAG, GLSEN, and other GLBT youth organizations including religious groups, as well as atheist and non-theist organizations and individuals to sign up as event organizers.
 Scouting for All is asking that you sign up to either do a fundraiser event and or a rally. The fundraiser could be used to raise funds for your local GLBT youth group such as a GSA Gay Straight Alliance Club or atheist organization. You could also hold a rally in front of your local Boy Scouts of America Council or a local business or United Way that is still donating money to the Boy Scouts of America. Make sure you draw media attention to the event to help give a voice to the issue of the BSA discriminating against gay and atheist youth and adults.

 If you can't do a fund-raiser and or organize a protest, then consider our Global Essay Contest. This year we've added our Global Essay Contest for ages 12 through 18. You can sign up online as an event organizer and organize the Essay Contest in your area by being a distributor of the Essay Contest flyer to your local schools, GLBT youth groups and GSA: Gay Straight Alliance Clubs in your community.
 For details and to sign up as an event organizer, just go to the Scouting for All web page www.scoutingforall.org or just click http://www.scoutingforall.org/annualrally.html and this menu will take you directly to the sign-up site. Scouting for All's Global Essay Contest
http://www.scoutingforall.org/articles/2006091301.html


Scouting for All's Global Essay Contest

(ages 12 through 18)

 Scouting for All invites all youth throughout the world to enter the contest. So we can all recognize gay and atheist scouts and all GLBT youth throughout the world. We all should be afforded the same human rights and acceptance as human beings. Our race, religion / nontheist, gender, sexual orientation are differences we should embrace. They make up the beautiful rainbow of the human family.

 The essay contest will be part of Scouting for All's Annual Recognition Of Gay And Atheist Scouts And All GLBT Youth Month which occurs every October. Please follow the instructions below.

Write an essay on the following topic:
Ask the Boy Scouts of America to stop excluding gay and atheist youth and adults from the scouting program.

1) The essay must be an original work of the entrant.
2) The essay must be no longer than 1000 words
3) There are 2 categories: Category 1 includes 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. Category 2 includes 10th, 11th, 12th grades.
4) For each Category the prize money will be awarded as follows: 1st Place $150., 2nd Place $75. and 3rd Place $50.
5) The Scouting for All board of directors will judge each essay based on clarity, thoughtfulness, and uniqueness of ideas.
6) The announcement of contestant winners will be made on December 1, 2006 on Scouting for All's web site, www.scoutingforall.org. Winners will be notified and checks will be sent to mailing addresses. Entries must be received no later than October 31, 2006. An essay received after this date will not be judged.
7) Sent your essay to: Attn. Scouting for All Essay Contest
 PO Box 2832
 Petaluma, CA 94953-2832
8) Contestants must include the following information along with their essay
 a) Name b) Age c) Grade d) Name of School e) Email Address f) Mailing Address
 g) Permission given for Scouting for All to post the essay on the national Scouting for All   website, www.scoutingforall.org