Gore and Lieberman Owe Boy Scouts an Apology for Booing at Convention
Sure Looks Like the Boy Scouts were Victims of a Hate Crime at the Democrat Convention
By: Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources (www.originalsources.com)
August 21, 2000
The article in Friday's Washingon Times by Valerie Richardson was titled "Democratic delegates boo the Boy Scouts of America," and began:
"When Gloria Johnson learned that a group of Eagle Scouts was about to take the stage at the Democratic National Convention, she immediately went into action.
"She and other California delegates grabbed poster board and markers and made signs that read, 'We Support Gay Boy Scouts.' As the uniformed Scouts took part in the opening ceremony, the delegates, seated in the front of the hall, waved their signs - and booed.
"Under normal circumstances, jeering at children is the sort of behavior that might get a delegate sanctioned, if not booted from the convention altogether. But anyone who expected the Democratic leadership to scold the Boy Scouts of America bashers is attending the wrong convention.
"Support for homosexual rights has become an integral part of the Democratic orthodoxy, as unassailable as the party's pro-choice or civil rights planks. Since the Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts can ban homosexual leaders, the Democrats have sided squarely with homosexuals in condemning the decision."
Even for California, this was a shock, especially for the Boy Scouts. The Los Angeles Council of Boy Scouts sent a half-dozen Eagle Scouts and an adult leader to the event at the request of Democratic organizers, said council spokesman Joey Robinson.
"I think whatever the national policy is, the kids don't set the policy. When you boo the policy, you're booing the kids," said Mr. Robinson.
Of course, the policy was not what was on the stage. There had been NO discussion of Scout Policy, or the Supreme Court Decision which declared that the Boy Scouts were well within their Constitutional rights in not allowing homosexual members or scoutmasters who want to redefine the Scout's meaning of "morally straight." What had just walked on the stage when the booing started were eight eagle scouts. They were booed. What, in our culture does booing mean, anyway? According to my unabridged dictionary, booing is "an exclamation to express contempt" when directed at someone on stage. The Scouts were on stage. The purpose of the booing was to show their contempt for the Scouts that had just walked on the stage.
Delegates who participated in protesting the Boy Scouts yesterday said they had nothing against the boys, but wanted to "send a message to the Democratic Party for inviting the Scouts." If they had wanted to do that they might have called up their leaders and expressed their message. That clearly was NOT their message. The message was straight out of the Lambda Legal Defense Fund's website. Lambda is the legal group that lost the Supreme Court Decision. Lambda urges homosexuals to
· Urge the many government sponsors of Boy Scout troops -- public schools, fire departments, etc. -- to withdraw their sponsorship. Government cannot run programs that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, both because of the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause and any state or local law that might require non-discrimination by public entities.
· Urge other sponsors of Scout troops (such as United Way or public employee charity lists) to either withdraw their support (and build new, inclusive programs for youth) or advocate within Scouting for an immediate policy change to allow gay youth and adult members.
· Urge parents to voice their opposition to the lesson of discrimination.
· Urge Scout members to voice their opposition to the exclusionary membership policy and to the interpretation of Scouting principles that says gay people are not "morally straight" or "clean.
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) announced that today, August 21st, is set for "a National Day of Protest…. The main protest will be at the Dallas Scout Council and a contingent will travel to the Irving, Texas, BSA national headquarters in an attempt to meet with BSA leaders. Additionally, protesters will be at more than 30 other BSA council sites around the country."
A group calling itself "Scouting for All" announces that "It is Scouting for All's position that all religions, denominations, churches, and local congregations in our widely diverse nation should be able to operate their own Scouting programs in accordance with their own beliefs, without BSA interference or favoring of one side when there is disagreement, including on questions of homosexuality. No church should be denied the Scouting program because of its beliefs nor should any church be forced to violate its beliefs in order to adopt the Scouting program."
Of course, there is nothing to prevent all religions, denominations, churches and local congregations who do not like the standards of the Boy Scouts of America to come up with their OWN program. The group says, "Scouting For All is a nonprofit organization made up of scouts, adult leaders and concerned individuals outside of scouting dedicated to ending the discrimination of the Boy Scouts of America towards gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth and adults. Scouting For All is also advocating that the Boy Scouts of America end its discrimination against girls and atheists."
The organization that the homosexuals want doesn't exist. All they have to do is to START one open to gay, lesbian, bisexual, atheist and transgendered youth and adults and see how well they do with it. I sort of doubt that they would have a large number of straight, God-fearing, parents rushing over to put their sons in their organization.
The existing Boy Scout organization has earned the trust of millions of Americans from all walks of life because they know their children are reasonably save with the Boy Scouts goals and policies. It is precisely the standards of the Boy Scouts of America that has earned that trust and the moment those policies change to allow sexually deviant members and leaders who don't BELIEVE in anything, a number of sponsoring organizations will pull out of the Boy Scout program and most parents will pull their sons out of the Scouting program. In fact, the largest Church sponsoring organizations in America filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court telling the court exactly that. It is not a big secret that a court decision forcing the Boy Scouts to abandon their standards would destroy the Boy Scouts.
The public's suspicion toward the motivations of homosexuals who demand access to their young sons is not prejudice. It is based on easily found data. A survey of the nation's newspaper stories about child molestation during the first 9 months of 1995 showed that about 40% of those stories involved homosexuality. An Internet survey of FirstSearch for 1989 through 1995 indicated that 46% of child molestations involved homosexual attacks. A Newsbank survey of stories from 1990 through 1995 60% of the child molestations in the major cities of American involved homosexuals. About half of teachers, day care workers and other professionals caught molesting children assaulted them homosexually.
Since the homosexual population is generally put at 1-2% of the population, the rate of homosexual molestations is astounding. While homosexuals claim that is because they are over-reported, it would appear, from the lack of national coverage given the rape and murder of 13 year old Jesse Dirkhising of Rogers, Arkansas by two homosexuals in the fall of 1999, that such crimes are woefully UNDER-reported.
While Jesse Dirkhising was never mentioned by most of the media, the name of Matthew Shepherd, a homosexual murdered by a couple of heterosexuals after they all had been drinking, with no child molestation involved, has become a household word and was given a prominent position at the Democrat Convention. In fact, Matthew Shepherd's father, introduced by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, was a speaker at the convention. He said in that speech "Everyone has the right to live his or her life without mental or physical abuse …No other family must feel the heartache that we feel. Al Gore has supported the rights of the gay community and the need for all people to respect and honor diversity. Al Gore will continue this policy."
So, exactly where DOES Al Gore stand in this situation? I've waited to write this article for a few days to see if Al Gore, Joseph Lieberman, Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy or any other leader in the Democrat party would come forward with an apology to those eight Eagle Scouts. I haven't heard one.
According to the Washington Times Democratic National Committee spokesman Rick Hess stressed that the party is staunchly committed to homosexual rights.
"We want to see gays and lesbians treated with respect," he said. "Democrats across the board support equal rights for gays and lesbians, and we want to make sure they're not discriminated against." It's a little hard for most normal Americans to "respect" a group of people who would boo a group of Eagle Scouts merely because they belong to a group that believes in doing their duty to their God and country and keeping themselves "physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight."
According to the Los Angeles Sheriff, a "Hate Crime is any unlawful action designed to frighten, harm, injure, intimidate or harass an individual, in whole or in part, because of a bias motivation against the actual or perceived race, religion, ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation, gender, or disability of the victim." It certainly appears that those Scouts were booed because of their gender, (boys), and religion (doing their duty to God), and the purpose of the booing certainly was intended to frighten, harm and intimidate. If the homosexuals and their Democrat buddies manage to destroy the Boy Scouts, as they are trying to destroy Dr. Laura Schlessinger, thousands of youngsters will be harmed. Sure looks like the Boy Scouts are the target of a Hate Crime to me.
The homosexual campaign to force advertisers to drop Dr. Laura's has been quite successful according to their website. They claim that the following corporate sponsors have succumbed to their intimidation and have stopped advertising on the Dr. Laura show: Priceline.com, United Airlines, Sears, Natrol, Procter and Gamble, Red Lobster, Gateway, Echo Star Dish Satellite, the Ohio State Lottery, Skytel, Geico Insurance, AT&T, American Express, Kraft, Kroger, Amica Insurance, TCF Bank, Xerox, More.com, Boxlot and, incredibly, ToysRUs. How many homosexuals and lesbians are buying toys on a regular basis?
What is perhaps more chilling than the attempt to force a Jewish woman talk show host into oblivion is the number of American corporations that have been willing to succumb to this kind of neo-Nazi tactic by a group as small as the radical homosexual/lesbian community in America which is less than 1% of the total population.
However, I consider the total silence of Al Gore and Joseph Lieberman since those Eagle Scouts were booed at THEIR convention to be even more ominous. By their silence, they are approving the booing of those Eagle Scouts. Considering the suffering his wife's family experienced with Nazism, Joseph Lieberman, in particular, ought to be up in arms over the incident. . |
