Gay Marriage, Boy Scouts, Chick-fil-a, and Slactivism

There are so many thoughts I’ve been afraid to post.  I didn’t want to add tinder and fuel to a useless fire.  A fire that is burning through our nation but is not providing any cleansing, catharsis, or renewal.  It just rages.  And rages.  And rages.  And it’s not stopping.

The fire is about gay people.

Turn back now, because I’m going to plow into this hard and I’m not going to stop.  If you’re reading this, it means you want to know what I think about it.  My language may be raw and rough at times.

Here it goes.


My Opinion on Gay Marriage

I guess I was lucky to be born straight.  Women are awesome and beautiful.  Men are awesome and beautiful.  And I think men and women go great together.  I’m so glad that I fell in love at an early age to a beautiful woman and that everyone thinks we are awesome and beautiful together.

I’m Catholic.  I will never be completely 100% okay with gay people getting married.  But I will NEVER condemn a person for loving someone.  Love is the greatest of human emotions. There is no way that I can, in good decent conscience, condemn a person for loving another human being, whether that person is male or female.  I just can’t.  You can spout whatever verse or law you want at me, but I’m not going to change my mind.  And no one else is either, so everyone might as well stop yelling at each other.

That being said, I think the government should hurry up and let the law marry gay people and stop trying to force churches to marry gay people.  Churches aren’t going to do it, because they don’t believe in it.  But gay Americans are still Americans, and they deserve the same legal right I have in this country to love my future wife.

Now you know where I stand.  Gay people:  no problem.  Gay marriage:  law-yes, church-no.  Are we clear?  Moving on.


Gays and the Boy Scouts of America (BSA)

As a former employee of the BSA and as an Eagle Scout, I’d like to make some observations.

I grew up in the Boy Scouts of America, and I’m so proud to be an Eagle Scout.  I learned so much about responsibility, friendship, planning, teamwork, accomplishment, and outdoor and survival skills.  I did not learn about love or sex in Scouting.

I have a good friend, one of my groomsmen in fact, who is gay, and he is also an Eagle Scout.  I deliberately avoided using the word “but” in the previous sentence.  He is gay AND an Eagle Scout.  Being gay doesn’t undo the character that is built through the Scouting program.  It doesn’t undo the amount of community service, care for others, leadership development, and knowledge of outdoor skills.  Being a Scout is a state of mind and a state of character.  Someone’s sexuality plays no role in that development.

Robert J. Mazzuca, Chief Scout Executive until August 31 of 2012, tells new Scouting professionals and seasoned veteran Scouters that not homosexuality, but 

“Sexuality of any kind has no place in Scouting.”  

What does this mean?  It is not the Scouting program’s goal, nor should Scouting be used as a vehicle, to teach kids about love and sex.  Public displays of affection between any kind of couple don’t belong in Scouting, and sex certainly shouldn’t have any place in an organization that teaches values to kids.

The Boy Scouts of America is a private, volunteer-run, values-based, educational institution.  Private, volunteer-run, values-based, and educational.

Private:  can make up whatever damn rules it pleases.  Boy Scout units are owned and operated by Charter Organizations.  That means an outside organization adopts the Scouting program as its own private method of community outreach and service.  That Scout unit thereby follows the rules and procedures of the Boy Scouts of America, but also of the Charter Organization.  The vast majority of these Charter Organizations are faith-based institutions, i.e. churches.

Volunteer-run:  meaning the Charter Organization supplies the unit with volunteers for its operation.  Volunteers are checked through two sets of approval:  approval with the Charter Organization, and approval with the Boy Scouts of America.  There is no space on the application for membership to mark whether you are gay or straight.  There are spaces to provide references, and previous involvement with youth and value-based organizations.  So, the BSA checks your references and previous youth interaction.  That’s it.  There is a place on the application for Charter Organization approval.  If a particular unit is with a church or other faith-based institution, or any institution that isn’t gay-friendly, they most likely won’t approve said gay individual’s application for membership, because that institution feels that gay individual isn’t fit to teach values to children.  Wrong or right, that institution owns and operates the unit, and they supply it with volunteers that they feel are fit to teach and mentor kids.  So, if you find a unit that isn’t gay-friendly, deal with it, and go find one that is.  There are many Scout units that are chartered through other organizations like Chambers of Commerce, banks, even radio stations, PTOs and PTAs, or you can even start you own program through Lone Scouts or as a “Parents Of” organization.

Values-based and educational:  Imagine if the teacher at the elementary school stood up in front of your child and started talking about sex.  Is that the teacher’s place?  Absolutely not.  That’s your job as the parent to teach your child about love, and to help them understand it.  You, as the parent, need to be the one helping your child discover their feelings and their sexuality.  Those aren’t the topics that random parents and volunteers should be teaching your child.  If you want some outside organization to teach your child about homo- and heterosexuality, then the Boy Scouts of America isn’t for you in the first place.  The BSA has a lesson plan, and sexuality isn’t in it.

The Boy Scouts of America has been following its rules and regulations for membership for 102 years and is showing no signs of stopping or changing.  They are a private organization and can enforce their own private requirements for membership, as is each Charter Organization.  The BSA will continue to back up the requirements for membership that are enforced by the Charter Organizations because the Charter Organizations are the ones supplying the volunteers in the first place.  I will continue to support the Boy Scouts of America because of what they've given me, and if I have a boy, we'll be involved in the Scouting program as a family in a unit that approves adults fit to lead, whether they are gay or straight.

Chick-fil-a and Slactivism

Chick-fil-a doesn’t support gay marriage.

Who the fuck cares?  It’s a fucking fast food chain.  Their only goal is to cook awesome chicken and make money doing it.  They don’t even remotely make policy concerning gay marriage.

“Slactivism:” A pejorative neologism combining 'slacker' and 'activism,' sometimes spelled 'slacktivism.' Engaging socially in activism that requires little or no effort as part of a lifestyle or self-identity. Slactivism usually produces no appreciable results and often perpetuates poor research and hearsay.  [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=slactivism]

NO APPRECIABLE RESULTS.  Going or not going to Chick-fil-a on a specific day isn’t going to make an iota of difference in affecting policy change.  Liking a Facebook page, or even writing a blog just doesn’t have the force behind it to DO anything.

Yes, I appreciate the fact that I’m writing a blog about slactivism.  Lol.

If you say you care about something so much, e.g. for or against gay marriage, write your policy-makers, donate money, and vote for your representatives at all levels of government, not just national.  Hold a rally or benefit and invite your policy-makers to be there.  The Boy Scouts of America are thriving because people who believe in its goals consistently donate money to that organization.

If you are so outraged at a national policy, is boycotting the chicken as far as you’re willing to go?

So that’s that.  Not many people have asked any of my opinions on these topics, but I have them.  This might just be for my benefit to write them down here.  Thanks, and have a wonderful day.