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Cradle Of Liberty Council Has Given In


eagle77

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Hmmmm. How can a council allow something national forbids?

 

As the handout for camp staff here says "Boys are testers, if you retreat when tested, they will advance."  New York pushed, Gates stepped aside, more councils will follow.  National doesn't forbid this, Gates has made it clear.

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As the handout for camp staff here says "Boys are testers, if you retreat when tested, they will advance."  New York pushed, Gates stepped aside, more councils will follow.  National doesn't forbid this, Gates has made it clear.

Until the policy changes its still on the books.

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As I recall in 2003, the City of Philadelphia opposed the exclusionary policy of both gays and atheists.

 

The COL Council news release specifically mentions "imposes no membership or employment restrictions based on an individual's sexual orientation." but does not specially mention religious orientation though I am encouraged by the invitation of  "We welcome any person of good will".

 

https://www.colbsa.org/news-and-information/news-and-information/cradle-of-liberty-council-announces-new-membership-and-employment-standards-policy.html

Edited by RememberSchiff
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 I'm wondering whether this annoucement has anything to do with the big LGBT party that will be going on in Philadelphia July 2 - 5? They are celebrating the 50 anniversary of their founding, I think. Either way this will be the city of rainbows soon.

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  Cradle of Liberty Council today has voted to allow gay members and leaders. Wonder how many more councils will openly give in or wait for National.

It will be interesting. I've been told that my local council has asked National many times in the last couple of decades if they can be exempt from the requirement to discriminate. National has always said no. Maybe they will get a yes this time? Or maybe they won't bother asking?

 

I think the writing is on the wall. The BSA needs to decide, is it a pluralistic American organization? Or a conservative Christians only group (don't we have Trail Life for that now?)?

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Rick, that's a flawed choice. It is possible to be conservative while serving a broad spectrum of faiths...perhaps not easy to do this without being dominated by one or the other faiths...but possible. And yes, Trail Life does seem to fit the description you gave.

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The council did not "give in". They adopted the policy they believe is the right policy.  In fact, they adopted a non-discrimination policy more than 10 years ago but were threatened with excommunication de-chartering by National if they didn't reverse themselves.  Now Mr. Gates has sent the signal (and I am sure it was confirmed privately before they did this) that that threat no longer exists.

 

I think it can be expected that other councils, particularly in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic areas and possibly in California and elsewhere, will do the same thing.  The question is how soon.  I would not be surprised if my council is now actively considering this.  After the 2013 trial balloon for local option for adult leaders was shot down, our SE and council president publicly expressed disappointment and said they would continue to advocate for the change.

 

Speaking of local option, I see no mention of that in this article or the other two that I found on the Internet.  I am kind of curious about that.  Maybe "we don't discriminate" really means that, in the council's relationship with units, "we will no longer force units to discriminate."  Maybe not mentioning local option means local option, after all, as I have been saying for years, local option is the norm for adult leadership selection in the BSA, and there are only a few exceptions.  Maybe this council's new policy simply overrides one of the exceptions.

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We all discriminate in one way or the other so all this talk about being non-discriminatory is basically political BS.  We all have our own little prejudices that we justify away so yes we are discriminatory, businesses are, churches are, organizations of all sorts are, the government is, and BSA has just not buckled under to the PR du jour.

 

We used to be a country of laws, but now that the Constitution has been neutered, it's anything goes. 

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