Eric Holder attacks BSA policy before LGBT pressure group

[AZMike]

WASHINGTON  Taking aim at the Boy Scouts of America's continuing ban on gay adult leaders, Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that the prohibition perpetuates "the worst kind of stereotypes.''

 

"It's a relic of an age of prejudice and insufficient understanding,'' the attorney general said Tuesday evening to Lambda Legal, an advocacy group for LGBT rights.

 

Referring to the group's work a decade ago to challenge the termination of a gay assistant scoutmaster, Holder said that "too many organizations, policies and practices that discriminate against LGBT individuals remain persistent concerns.''

"Unfortunately, the continuation of a policy that discriminates against gay adult leaders – by an iconic American institution – only preserves and perpetuates the worst kind of stereotypes,'' he said.

 

Last year, the Boy Scouts of America's national council voted to allow openly gay youths to join the organization. But the council maintained its prohibition on gay adult leaders. Former Defense secretary Robert Gates, in an interview last month with the Associated Press after taking over as BSA president, said he would have allowed gay adult leaders but accepted the vote of the council.

 

"We recognize there are many opinions on these matters,'' the BSA said in a written statement, referring to Gates' recent remarks. "The Boy Scouts of America believes that to disagree does not mean to disrespect, we remain focused on delivering the nation's foremost youth development program.''

 

Yet Holder said that just as gay men and women "put their lives on the line as members of America's armed services...then then surely they are fit to mentor, to teach, and to serve as role models for the leaders of future generations.''

 

Earlier Tuesday, Holder marked the observance of an LGBT event at the Justice Department, by recounting a string of recent decisions, from the end of the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy to the Supreme Court's repeal last year of the federal government's ban on recognizing gay marriage.

 

"In recent years, and even in the last 12 months, our nation has made extraordinary strides to overcome obstacles and institutional biases that too often affect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals,'' Holder said.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...-ban/10294827/

[Peregrinator]

Whenever I read stuff like this I think of the adults from Peanuts cartoons "whah-whuh-whah-whuh-whuh"

[JoeBob]

It's hard to get worked up over anything that Eric Holder has to say.

 

Now if it had been someone with a shred credibility, like Charles Schulz, I might have paid attention.

[MattR]

I would be fascinated to read anything newly written by Schultz. Talk about someone with a fantastic perspective.

[Tampa Turtle]

It's hard to get worked up over anything that Eric Holder has to say.

 

Now if it had been someone with a shred credibility, like Charles Schulz, I might have paid attention.

 

 

I'd hope you'd pay attention--he's been dead --Good Grief--14 years!

[RememberSchiff]

It's hard to get worked up over anything that Eric Holder has to say.

 

Now if it had been someone with a shred credibility, like Charles Schulz, I might have paid attention.

 

Agree 110%.

[chrisking0997]

a politician got up in front of a bunch of people and told them exactly what they wanted to hear??? Inconceivable!!!

[AZMike]

Did you know Charlie Schulz was one of the liberators of Dachau in WWII?

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Did you know Charles Schulz called himself a secular humanist?

[AZMike]

Did you know Charles Schulz called himself a secular humanist?

 

That would correlate with his increasing depression and despondency in his later life. However, that quote was from about 1995. One of the last quotes we have from him on religion is his statement that "I firmly believe in the Kingdom of God," so although he had been through the horrors of WWII, a stroke, a failed marriage, a medical condition that made him unable to keep drawing, colon cancer, and what sounds like clinical life-long depression, he retained a faith in God although he expressed a dislike for the evangelism that characterized his earlier denomination, The Church of God.

 

His 2nd wife, who probably knew him better than you or I, Merlyn, described his religious views thus:

 

I think that he was a deeply thoughtful and spiritual man. Sparky was not the sort of person who would say "oh that's God's will" or "God will take care of it." I think to him that was an easy statement, and he thought that God was much more complicated. When he came back from the army he was very lonely. His mother had died and he was invited to church by a pastor who had prepared his mother's service from the Church of God. Sparky's father was worried about him and was talking to the pastor and so the pastor invited Sparky to come to church. So Sparky went to church, joined the youth group and for a good 4-5 years he went to Bible study and went to church 3 times a week (2 Bible studies, 1 service). He said he had read the Bible through three times and taught Sunday school. He was always looking for what those passages REALLY Might have meant. Some of his discussions with priests and ministers were so interesting because he wanted to find out what these people (who he thought were more educated than he) thought.

When he taught Sunday school, he would never tell people what to believe. God was very important to him, but in a very deep way, in a very mysterious way

 

 

[Tampa Turtle]

I LOVED Peanuts as a kid and the melancholic Schultz really called to me. That said IMHO it is best not to base one's beliefs on what a celebrity believes or doesn't.

[RememberSchiff]

Did you know Charles Schulz called himself a secular humanist?

 

“ I do not go to church anymore... I guess you might say I've come around to secular humanism, an obligation I believe all humans have to others and the world we live in." - Charles Schultz circa late 1980's

 

Awarded the Combat Infantry Badge too.

 

http://army.togetherweserved.com/army/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApps?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=234063

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

One of the last quotes we have from him on religion is his statement that "I firmly believe in the Kingdom of God' date='"[/font']

 

I can find the quote in a recent biography published by his family, but not a date for when he said that. The introduction written by the editor in 2009 has:

There is a good deal here, as well, on a personal note: his work ethic, his philosophic attitude, and his religious beliefs which changed over time, until he would eventually call himself a "secular humanist."

[AZMike]

 

I can find the quote in a recent biography published by his family, but not a date for when he said that. The introduction written by the editor in 2009 has:

There is a good deal here, as well, on a personal note: his work ethic, his philosophic attitude, and his religious beliefs which changed over time, until he would eventually call himself a "secular humanist."

 

Here's the relevant quote: http://books.google.com/books?id=DV8NvhEX2LYC&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=Am+I+a+religious+man?+I%27ll+have+to+let+someone+else+judge+that.+I%27m+a+firm+believer+in+the+Kingdom+of+God,+but+I+don%27t+know+about+the+afterlife&source=bl&ots=F9-dwalDRc&sig=_h0h5V1VwOb_V9xbPoUfvlK_wn8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LoJUUfuRNa_a2wW344GABg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Am%20I%20a%20religious%20man%3F%20I'll%20have%20to%20let%20someone%20else%20judge%20that.%20I'm%20a%20firm%20believer%20in%20the%20Kingdom%20of%20God%2C%20but%20I%20don't%20know%20about%20the%20afterlife&f=false

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Yes, I saw that quote, but I don't see when he said that. He died in 2000 and that book was published in 2010, so it wasn't done for the book.