Council president says they ignore rules against gays and atheists

[Sablanck]

I thought the rainbow symbolized God's promise to not flood the earth again? I can see boys not liking the name though.

 

Sean

[NJCubScouter]

TwoCubDad, you beat me to it, sort of. I was going to say that I suspect we are going to see a "clarification" from this council president once someone sends a clipping of that article to National. And you're right, this is nothing new. We already know that there are various people in various councils -- and in some cases the councils themselves -- that do not agree with the policy(ies) in question. By this time it seems that they have learned to keep quiet about it -- including being quiet about what may or may not actually be happening in their councils. This council president may not have "gotten the memo," but I think he is going to get it now.

 

And if Merlyn's point is that there is a certain amount of dishonesty within the BSA regarding the application of these policies, I agree with him.

[CalicoPenn]

I just spoke to a friend of mine who is involved with a unit in Morris. His take is completely different. It seems there's a bit of scuttlebutt that the official reason for the name change is a smokescreen, and that the real issue is the professional staff believing the name is more appropriate for a Girl Scout Council and it harms their ability to do fundraising.

 

He also agrees with me that Scouts get teased because they are Scouts. I won't share what he thinks of the volunteer quoted in the paper.

[moosetracker]

What state is this in, I couldn't find it in the artical. I use to live in Chicago Suburbs where there were neighboring towns of Joliet & Bolingbrook (fact I lived in Bolingbrook.)

 

But then it doesn't make sense OGE's comment about tornado alley or Extreme Boonies because those cities are very large well populatied cities.

[NJCubScouter]

On the "Rainbow Council" issue, I guess I am a little surprised that there is a council by that name to begin with. In my state, all the council names are geographically based except for Patriots Path, which is a direct reference to events in the Revolutionary War in the area. New Jersey also has many "former" councils due to mergers, and most of these also had geographic names, with some named after historical figures like Washington and Edison. But "Rainbow"? Even without the ideological connotations, I wouldn't have expected to see a name like that. It probably does make sense to change it. What BSA policies should be is something to debate on their own merits, without worrying about the name of some council somewhere in Illinois.(This message has been edited by njcubscouter)

[acco40]

Any alumni from the University of Hawaii that care to comment?

 

Basketball team - Rainbow Warriors

Baseball team - Rainbows

Football team - Warriors

 

A rose by any other name ...

[Oak Tree]

Yes, what I hear him saying is "We practice 'Don't ask, don't tell'". Same as what many other councils and units do.

 

He may need to clarify this at National's request.

[perdidochas]

SaBlanck,

 

The rainbow is a symbol for Gay pride (or more specifically, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride).

[OldGreyEagle]

So, when I was growing up in Du Page County and either Harry Volkman or PJ Hoff or whomever was doing the tornado warnings, they always seemed to include Will, Grundy and Kankakee counties,

 

Mind you during this time I was traveling back and forth from Northern Du Page (Wood Dale) to Romeoville, or Lockport weekly to go to high school,

 

Anyway, the corner of Rte 66 (yes that Rte 66) and Airport road right next to Lewis University. I think someone else owns it now, the University that is and that was the boonies, I mean, Joliet?

[NJCubScouter]

Oak Tree, I disagree slightly. "Don't ask don't tell" is an accurate description of BSA National's policy. (It was/is not an accurate description of the U.S. military's policy, but that is a different subject.) The issue here is that this council president in Illinois seems to be saying that a boy, having "told", should still be welcome as a member. While BSA National's policy on youths who say they are gay (as opposed to adults who say they are gay) is far from clear, what the guy in Illinois said is almost definitely NOT the policy.

[Oak Tree]

NJCubScouter, you're probably right. Certainly within the context of the story, his words are taken to be contradicting National's position. I could imagine a clarification that would keep his statements within National policy, though.

 

"I would like to clarify a statement that was in the press. When I stated 'its our obligation as board members to explore any and all options to increase the numbers of kids that are served by our program, whether they be black, white, orange, left-handed, handicapped, gay, it doesnt matter', what I meant was that we should be out there offering the program to all takers. We do not ask people about their sexual orientation, and I'm certain we have gay members, just as virtually any group our size would. My position is consistent with the National policies on membership, and I was not indicating any change nor any opposition to such policies."

[CalicoPenn]

"What state is this in, I couldn't find it in the artical. I use to live in Chicago Suburbs where there were neighboring towns of Joliet & Bolingbrook (fact I lived in Bolingbrook.)

 

But then it doesn't make sense OGE's comment about tornado alley or Extreme Boonies because those cities are very large well populatied cities."

 

It's Illinois.

 

John Coleman, before he went on to be a founder of the Weather Channel, was the weatherman for the ABC Channel 7 Chicago newscasts. He often used the term Boonies and Super Boonies to describe the suburbs and outlying areas of Chicago. If it was a suburb outside the inner-ring of suburbs (ie Park Ridge, Des Plaines, Oak Park), it was the Boonies. If you lived in the Northwest Cook County suburbs (Arlington Heights, Schaumburg, Rolling Meadows, Palatine), the Southwest Cook County suburbs, most of DuPage County and Lake County south of Route 60, you were in the Boonies. If you lived beyond those burbs - Lake north of Rte 60 (Libertyville, Antioch, Zion), Kane County (Elgin), far west DuPage (Aurora) McHenry County (Woodstock) and Will County (Joliet, Bolingbrook), you were in the Super Boonies - sometimes known as the Extreme Boonies. He might tell you that you could expect 3 inches of snow, 6 inches in the boonies and 8 inches in the super boonies and you knew exactly where he meant.

 

Yes, Joliet is a large City - heck, Aurora is the second largest city in Illinois, but from downtown Chicago, it's in the Super Boonies - and it's the proximity from Chicago that counts. Though both would be major cities in most states, they're mere towns when compared to Chicago

 

Heck, Rockford is one of the largest cities in Illinois, and is not just west of Chicago but significantly north of Chicago and is considered "Downstate" by Chicago standards (and too far away to be considered a "Super Boonie", even though most of the time I can get to Rockford in less time from Schaumburg than I can get to downtown Chicago from Schaumburg - I don't think my leg has ever fully recovered from the 2.5 hour Friday night rush hour trip in first gear in my Mustang back about 10 years ago).

 

I can see Tornado Alley applying - Bolingbrook and Plainfield have both been hit by tornadoes within the past 20 years.

[CalicoPenn]

Perd - it is also a Christian symbol for God's promise not to flood the earth anymore. In general, a rainbow sticker (literally a rainbow - in that shape) is the Christian symbol. A rainbow colored sticker in the shape of a flag, a triangle, a strip, or a squiggle is the GLBT symbol.

 

 

[acco40]

Any symbol represents what the beholder sees in it. The rainbow sympbol's original intent was to represent diversity (multi-colors, get it?), inclusiveness, hope and yearning (hey Noah, see the rainbow? The rain has stopped! - God).

 

It was adopted by the those wishing to advertise gay pride.

 

IMO, the same folks who complain that groups "hijack" their words (i.e. Fred Flintstone had a gay old time long ago) are the same ones who are the ones who help that happen by avoiding the use.

[Scoutfish]

Used to be a shop up the raod from my house when growing up.

 

It was called

"Stump Dwellers"

 

They sold all kinds of prisms, suncatchers, dried bannana chips, trail mix, glass unicorns , kites, tire sandals, natural vitamins, incense, etc.... and all kinds of junk like that.

 

WEll, I was around the age of ten back then.

 

I now know it was a head/ hippes shop.

 

One of the things I remember about this shop is all the rainbow stickers everywhere and buying a bag of dried banana chip every week.

 

Man, thoser things are awesome!

 

So..rainbow...I have no idea if it was a gay thing, a hippie earth movement thing,m or what.

 

But truth be told.... the very first rainbows make me think of dried banana chips!

 

My wife thinks of Care Bears and Unicorns.

 

My son thinks girls.

 

My dog must be very insecure because he refuses to tell me what he thinks!