To the Board of Directors: Boy Scouts of America
Bigotry has consequences.
Each day that the Boy Scouts of America continues to condone the marginalization of gay boys, it fails to send a strong message to very impressionable heterosexual boys that all youngsters deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
As a result, wonderful, promising young boys die.
Would a Scout have come to Jadin Bell’s aid if the BSA were sending a more inclusive and less bigoted and homophobic message about gay boys and men than it is today?
The young boys under the influence of the Boy Scouts of America would grow to be better citizens and leaders if they were encouraged to lead the charge against bigotry instead of being threatened with expulsion for doing just that – last week’s response on the part of the BSA to a troop in Maryland. What part of that respone is not repugnant? What part of that response does not reek of complicity in the ugly subculture of intolerance and hatred?The BSA is already on the wrong side of history. But you have to know that by now.
It doesn’t take courage to change at this point, it just takes common decency.