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Scouts unbowed by Berkeley bullies
Orange County Times ^ | Feb. 28, 2003 | Harold Johnson

Posted on 02/28/2003 2:36:31 PM PST by laureldrive

Edited on 04/14/2004 10:05:53 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

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To: Stone Mountain
If he was not a "practicing" homosexual, don't you think he would have brought that up in the court case?

It is a great big reach to argue that the guy is a gay activist -- quoted in a college newspaper as a member of the gay & lesbian group -- and not "practicing." But, for the sake of argument, let's just say he wasn't. He still is actively supporting immoral behavior in a publication that was accessible to the community. That is enough to disqualify him, imo.

Look, there is nothing biologically normal about being gay. No matter how much gays want to be "the same" they simply are not. Their bodies are made just like heterosexuals. Their whole argument is based on "I want to, therefore it's normal." That's weak at best. There is NOTHING about their physical selves that backs that claim up. There are countless things we all face daily that force us to choose beweeen what we want and what we ought to do. All desire is not moral. There is nothing natural, normal, or moral about homosexuality. If you want to argue that someone has the right to choose an immoral lifestyle then that is one thing. But no one has the right to be a Boy Scout leader. That's a privilege. Immoral people need not apply.

Do you think scouts must also accept bisexuals or transexuals or the transgendered? What about polygamists or prostitutes? Where does it stop?

Additionally, gays being gay can't have kids. This is none of their business. Sure, many gays have kids but how did they get them? One hundred percent of the time they got them through heterosexuality. That is what is normal. It is normal -- as in supported by biology and nature -- to discriminate against gays in relation to children. If you want to argue what is "natural," THAT is natural.

201 posted on 03/04/2003 3:57:40 PM PST by RAT Patrol
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To: RAT Patrol
If he was not a "practicing" homosexual, don't you think he would have brought that up in the court case?

No, because it didn't matter. The scouts can kick out who they want for whatever reason they want. My point is only that the BSA does not have a coherent policy to do so - just an intentionally ambiguous one.

The rest of your post seems to be a reply to an argument I haven't made...
202 posted on 03/04/2003 4:16:12 PM PST by Stone Mountain
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To: Stone Mountain
Creating objective criterion for being an "avowed" homosexual would mean that they would have to live by those criterion. The BSA is clearly not ready or capable of doing such a thing. For that matter, is there any kind of consensus out there as to what an "avowed" homosexual is? As it is, the BSA can interpret to mean whatever they want it to mean. Giving an interview to a paper, attending a parade, whatever - much more flexible that way.

Actually, with that last comment you've probably hit the nail on the head. You see, the BSA often leaves flexibility in thier policies so as to allow different local Councils an ability to adapt National guidelines to the community's own environment.

The amount of adaptation that a local Council is allowed depends on the type of policy. Membership policies tend to be the least flexible, but to me it seems that the deliberate addition of the word "avowed" in front of homosexual is, at the least, meant to establish that something other than merely being homosexual is necessary to ban someone from registering as a Scouter. It's more than just homosexual status that disqualifies you from the BSA, there's got to be some behavior too. The BSA, as it often does with other policies, allows local Councils some latitude in deterimining what that behavior is.

203 posted on 03/04/2003 6:47:35 PM PST by RonF
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To: RAT Patrol
Point of order. It wasn't a college newspaper, it was a commerical newspaper covering Monmouth County news. According to the SC of NJ, the paper in question was the "Star-Ledger". Do a search on "Star-Ledger" and "New Jersey" and you'll get to their web site.
204 posted on 03/04/2003 6:53:06 PM PST by RonF
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To: Stone Mountain
My point is only that the BSA does not have a coherent policy to do so - just an intentionally ambiguous one. I STRONGLY disagree.
205 posted on 03/05/2003 4:58:26 AM PST by RAT Patrol
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To: RonF
It wasn't a college newspaper, it was a commerical newspaper covering Monmouth County news. According to the SC of NJ, the paper in question was the "Star-Ledger". Do a search on "Star-Ledger" and "New Jersey" and you'll get to their web site.

Oh. Thanks for the clarification.

206 posted on 03/05/2003 5:01:25 AM PST by RAT Patrol
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To: Stone Mountain
Here is one of your comments I was replying to:

"Unless you consider giving an interview to a paper immoral activity..."

I was explaining WHY I see a connection between his interview and his being morally unfit to be a Scout leader.

207 posted on 03/05/2003 5:05:10 AM PST by RAT Patrol
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Comment #208 Removed by Moderator

Comment #209 Removed by Moderator

To: amused
Great comment:

It is only permissable to force your beliefs on someone if the beliefs are liberal or secular in nature....

210 posted on 03/05/2003 8:04:21 AM PST by GOPJ
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To: chance33_98

211 posted on 03/05/2003 8:10:11 AM PST by tomkat
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To: madg
Anyone that thinks that Berkeley enacted a city-wide policy that covers all of the thousands of businesses and charities in the city SOLELY because they wanted to “harass” the owners of one ship (in a thousand-berth marina) really needs a lesson in deductive reasoning.

What is YOUR motivation, madg?

212 posted on 03/05/2003 9:07:00 AM PST by RAT Patrol
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To: madg
The Berkeley Marina has almost ONE THOUSAND berths. The Berkeley anti-discrimination policy applies CITY-WIDE (not just to the marina), and was enacted in 1997, YEARS before the SCOTUS ruling.

Good morning!

The actual court cases on this issue (exclusion of homosexuals in the BSA) began in 1990, according to the ACLU. And lambdalegal.org shows the Berkeley anti-discimination ordinance as 11/9/78 so Berkeley in 1997 was merely setting itself up to punish the Scouts by adding the "sexual preference" clause.

Interestingly, the Scouts were first granted the berth in a 1936 deal in which Berkeley got 80,000 tons of rock from a Boy Scout camp in exchange for the perpetual free berth.

It's PC harassment all the way. Maybe the Scouts should ask for their rock back from the Berkeley welshers.

213 posted on 03/05/2003 9:09:28 AM PST by jimt
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To: RAT Patrol
My point is only that the BSA does not have a coherent policy to do so - just an intentionally ambiguous one. I STRONGLY disagree.

Really? Please state the unambiguous policy regarding gays in the Boy Scouts.
214 posted on 03/05/2003 9:10:58 AM PST by Stone Mountain
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To: Rain-maker
I will never give a dime to United Way - years ago in Oakland/Berkeley they would not give a cent to the Boy Scouts since they used the word "God" in their oath, but they gave untold sums of money to Huey Newton and his Black Panthers to distribute as they chose.
215 posted on 03/05/2003 9:15:39 AM PST by vishnu2
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To: RonF
It's more than just homosexual status that disqualifies you from the BSA, there's got to be some behavior too.

But what, nobody can say...
216 posted on 03/05/2003 9:27:55 AM PST by Stone Mountain
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To: Stone Mountain
Really? Please state the unambiguous policy regarding gays in the Boy Scouts.

You know the policy. You just interpret it according to your own ideology. I'm done with this conversation, Stone. You never answer my questions. You just answer my questions with questions and address my statements with either "I don't know what you are talking about," completely ignore them, or tell me how I am not telling you what you want to hear.

I'm not wasting more energy on a one-way "conversation."

See ya on another thread. I'm proud of the Boy Scout policy and it couldn't be more clear. If you can't understand it then just don't worry about it.

217 posted on 03/05/2003 9:28:07 AM PST by RAT Patrol
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Comment #218 Removed by Moderator

To: RAT Patrol
I'm proud of the Boy Scout policy and it couldn't be more clear.

Give me a break. Even supporters of the policy admit it's ambiguous. And I have certainly replied to you - I agreed with you about the supreme court, and I'm not making the argument that the Boy Scouts as a private organization shouldn't be allowed to have any members they want for whatever reason. But I'm going to point out that their policy is clearly ambiguous and if you want to show otherwise, you need to state what their unambiguous policy is. Since the National office of the BSA wasn't able to do so, I'll be surprised if anyone else can...
219 posted on 03/05/2003 9:33:35 AM PST by Stone Mountain
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To: madg
It seems sparklingly clear the city of Berkeley is ENTIRELY within its rights, that their actions are entirely legal, and that the SS has no valid claim on city subsidy.

There's no question that so far Berkeley's actions have been found legal.

It's also sparklingly clear that Berkeley took this punitive action to punish the Scouts. The timing is irrefutable.

The fact that Berkeley has chosen to violate the "informal agreement" (in order to push its politically correct agenda of forcing all organizations everywhere to be accepting of homosexuals) illustrates the value of the leftists' word: zero. Their invention of the "sexual preference" clause in 1997 was a clever legal strategy, granted, and so far it has worked.

It's also despicable. Harassing the Sea Scouts for political points is low, even for the Democratic People's Republic of Berkeley.

220 posted on 03/05/2003 11:26:37 AM PST by jimt
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