my letter to the editor

I sent a letter to the editor of our local newspaper, and it was published yesterday. The situation that I wrote about started with the local Boy Scouts of America troup having their annual Christmas tree sale at a local Baptist church. A lesbian couple who are well known in town (and were the first same sex couple to marry in the county the first day that it was allowed in summer 2008) wrote a letter to the newspaper reminding everyone that the BSA discriminates based on sexual orientation and religion (not everyone knows that you can't be a boy scout or leader if you don't believe in a supreme being), and that there are other places to buy Christmas trees from groups that don't discriminate. A local scout leader wrote a vicious letter to the editor in response, accusing the married couple of intolerance, and saying that as a private organization the BSA can determine their own membership rules. My letter said that the couple never asked the BSA to change their policy or challenged their right to sell trees, and as a private organization the BSA can set their own policy. I pointed out that the couple merely reminded everyone that the BSA discriminates, and that people should think about spending their money with a discriminatory organization.

I used a calm tone in my letter but I really dislike the BSA. Many if not most of their supporters are right wing, anti-gay, anti-women organizations, such as the Catholic and Mormon churches. They are also too blindly patriotic for me. They're part of the "vast right-wing conspiracy" that Hillary Clinton talked about years ago, and she was correct.

I realize that others will have very different feelings about the BSA. I know former scouts who are gay who support the BSA, but I won't, and I won't even consider letting my son Leo join. I really have no respect for any discriminatory organization.