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Activist Groups Urge Obama to Reject Boy Scout Honor
From Fox News:
Activist groups, including Scouting for All, urge President Obama not to accept the honorary Presidency of the Boy Scouts of America until they stop discriminating.
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Scouting for All's Global Essay Contest
2006 1st Place Winner - Category 1 - Age 11-14
Olivia Gray
Olivia Gray, won the $150 1st place prize for Category 1, Age 11-14 in 2006.
Olivia was 14 years old and in 9th grade when she wrote the essay.
She lives in Petaluma, California and attends Petaluma High School.
Scouting for All thanks Olivia for her heartfelt thought-provoking essay.
Olivia and her father Terence and mother Karen gave permission to Scouting for All
to publish Olivia’s essay on our national web site, www.scoutingforall.org.
To The Boy Scouts of America
In this day and time, if an atheist or gay boy or young man wanted to join the Boy Scouts
of America he would not be able to. He would be told that the Boy Scouts do not accept
people of a different sexual orientation or religious belief. This young man or boy would
go home that day feeling rejected and unwanted because of his differences, and for what?
So that the Boy Scouts can have a "perfect" troop of straight Christians? No, they may
have dashed a young boy’s childhood aspiration on no grounds other than his differences.
Well no, I say no, no to excluding, and no to judging. No matter what the Boy Scouts of
America may say there are absolutely no grounds for turning down a kid, eager child based
on his beliefs and or sexual orientation.
First allow me to address the "issue" of homosexuality. If the main concern is a gay boy
or young man sleeping in a room with other boys then by all means tell the boys that any
sexual act will get them kicked out of the Boy Scouts; but do not assume that something
of this sort will occur purely because of the boys sexual preferences. Many young boys
have not yet reached a point where they feel sexually attracted to anybody, boys or girls.
As for the young men, they would know better than to make a move on a straight man just
as much as you or I know not to hit on a homosexual man or woman.
As for Atheism, a person’s religious beliefs are their own and should not cause any need
for discrimination. As far as I know the Boy Scouts do not involve themself in any
ultra-Christian activities, so religion shouldn’t be a problem one way or the other. If
indeed it does, for some unknown reason, bother a Christian boy to hear an atheist boy talk
about his beliefs then it can be made a rule to keep religious beliefs personal.
Were the Boy Scouts of America to begin to let people of different beliefs join, I believe
they would gain not only productive members, but also respect. The question of boys and
young men being excluded who have alternative beliefs and or different sexual orientation
has lead to many people losing respect for the Boy Scouts. For years Boy Scouts have been
a home to many children, a place of serenity and happiness, and a wonderful childhood
memory to look back on. Were this opportunity was made available to a more diverse group
of people, I feel that the Boy Scouts of America could do great things. Even just changing
one life, that one lonely atheist or gay boy who has never been part of anything and felt
alone wanted to be in the Boy Scouts and the Boy Scouts let him join, I believe they would
have helped changed the world for the better.
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