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October 13, 2002 - "Scouting
For All" Rally Third Annual "Scouting For All" Rally. 
Over 150 people turned
out to protest against the local San Diego Boy Scouts
Desert Pacific Council headquarters being located on government
property in Balboa Park which they lease (a 40 year lease) for
$1.00 per year and a $1,250.00 annual administration fee between
the City of San Diego and the Boy Scouts of America.The Boy Scouts of America have argued all the way to the US Supreme Court for it's right to discriminate against atheist and gay youth and adults. The City of San Diego has passed it's own ordinance that they will not do business with organizations that discriminate. Scouting For All is rallying for the immediate separation of these two organizations. Organizations joining Scouting For All at the rally included The Center (The San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center), The San Diego Democractic Club (SDDC), The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and Parents and Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). 
Many speakers spoke against the Boy Scouts of America for
its policies, the fact that our nation is still struggling
with equal right issues for adults as well as students and
the fact that the City of San Diego has renewed it's lease to
the Boy Scouts, December 2001, despite the City's own antidiscrimination
policy.David Rice, a sixty year member of the BSA and co-founder of Scouting For All, related the history of the Boy Scouts of America and its recent anti-gay attitudes. Local attorney M.E. Stephens, who emceed the event, is also working with the ACLU in its suit against the City. "We are suing to end the hypocrisy of the Boy Scouts' big lie that they treat everyone equally. I'm a taxpayer. I paid for the fence that keeps me out, the lock, and the barbed wire. If we had a different City Council last year, that vote would not have happened. Mick Rabin (San Diego Scouting For All Board Member) and Howard Menzer (San Diego Scouting For All Board Member and Southwestern Regional Director for Scouting For All National) surrendered their Eagle Scout badges to Scouting For All at previous rallies. Both spoke (see Mick's speech) about their experience in Scouting and how they both completely disagree with the discriminatory policies which the Boy Scouts of America have adopted. 
Bob Leyh and Josh Rapp turned over their Eagle Scout badges
to Scouting For All. The men shared how their pride at earning
Scouting's highest award had dissolved into shame for being associated
with the Boy Scouts of America. They also stated their hope that
some day they will once again be able to associate with the BSA,
but only after it changes its policies to truly provide equal opportunities
for all young people.* End of article. *Most of this text taken (and slightly re-edited) from the newspaper, Update , October 17, 2002, Issue 1086, written by editor Mr. Richard Wood. Previous |
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"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." –Martin Luther King, Jr. "Institutionalized homophobia in the Scouts or in church or school is the cruelest of all. It makes life miserable for young gay people and it misleads their peers with regard to the truth about gay people—that we are remarkably similar to the rest." –Ian McKellen, Actor (Gandalf in Lord of the Rings and Magneto in X-Men), quoted with permission. Main site: http://www.mckellen.com Quote: http://www.mckellen.com/epost/m030924.htm |
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