Written: 7/27/2012
A lot more has happened, and as I said before, keeping the BSA in the public eye and keeping the conversation going is what is going to force change.
A few years ago, there was a rash of schools not allowing LGBT youth from bringing same-sex dates to proms and other dances. They kept stating they didn’t want to cause a distraction. Well, the distraction they kept getting from public outcry was huge, and finally most caved to that pressure (along with the help from the ACLU).
The Post-Gazette published an editorial, although it was fairly tame, actually. The same with Rob Rogers, while it was appreciated, I’ve seen him swing for the fences before and this seemed not as impassioned.
Major League Soccer has dissolved the partnership with the BSA, which lasted only a year, and one that came under scrutiny before, because of the BSA’s discrimination.
Joe My God links to this graphic from GLAAD:
And Boing Boing has an amazing roundup of returned Eagle Awards and letters send to the national board. The post keeps getting updated with more and more returned awards.
The returned awards really has an impact, maybe not as much as we hope, but it has a lot of people talking, which is a good thing. Camp staff members and other employees are talking about the issue more than I’ve ever heard before. And while it seems that some people who I thought would be allies, have turned out to be more bigoted than I imagined they could be, the opposite is also true.
I like to think that when I eventually leave and come out, or the the policy changes and I can come out, I can change some of their minds when they look back and realize that nothing is different. It makes me sad, it really does, thinking that I might lose some of my friends, but then maybe I wouldn’t really want them around anyway if they didn’t accept me.
I have to take a break from writing about it every now and then (hence the post about Chick-Fil-A), just to keep my sanity, but I’ll be back at it again.
I’ll be back with my next issue with some writing about camp, which is always tough for me, but it’s needed.
All my best,
The King of Spades
