Editor:
I am writing in support of Adam Benson’s Nov. 12 column, “Boy Scouts Teach Discrimination to America’s Youth.” Don’t get me wrong, I am a staunch supporter of First Amendment rights and the freedom of assembly, but there is something fundamentally wrong and disturbing with the Boy Scouts’ decision to exclude atheists and homosexuals from their ranks.
By declaring that homosexuals and atheists don’t deserve the same opportunities, the organization is making a judgment that homosexuals and atheists aren’t capable of or possess these qualities just because of the fact that they are homosexuals and atheists. It is no different from when women were discriminated against because of their supposed biological inferiority or when African-Americans’ intelligence and “civilized” nature were questioned due to their skin color.
David Sundwall’s Nov. 14 letter to the editor, “Let Boy Scouts Make Up Their Own Minds,” compared letting homosexuals and atheists into the Boy Scouts as being tantamount to letting KKK members into the NAACP. This analogy is highly erroneous. The essential difference between the two analogies it this: The NAACP’s and the KKK’s ideological goals are in complete opposition. Obviously, letting the senior Klansmen join the NAACP would not be a very good idea. Letting homosexuals and atheists into the Boy Scouts would not detract from its goals, which include teaching young men the proper values to lead a “good” life.
Even though the Boy Scouts is a private organization, it still receives massive tax breaks and subsidies from the government. Upholding the Boy Scouts’ exclusionary practices would be tantamount to supporting state-backed discrimination.
Patrick Lagua
Senior, Political Science and Gender Studies