Letters: The Boy Scouts’ ban on gay kids

Re “Boy Scouts to keep ban on gays,” July 18

While gay rights progress in some areas, the Boy Scouts of America keeps its head in the sand over an issue so fundamental to the maturation of young boys. Imagine the angst of youth grappling with questions about sexuality and also wanting to be in the Boy Scouts.

Oh, but the adults in the Roman Catholic and Mormon churches are unaccepting and would withhold the donations that are crucial to the Boy Scouts. Talk about a sad situation.

Sexual identity is not a choice; the seeds are planted at birth, and to play with one’s mind in trying to alter those seeds is destructive and unconscionable.

Ronald L. Wallace

Sherman Oaks

Re “Boy Scouts’ wrong path,” Editorial, July 19

The Times’ editorial bemoaning the “sad” and “unnecessary” evolution of the Boy Scouts reflected in its exclusion of gays and atheists should instead decry the fact that in many cases, democracy has evolved into a fanatic religion of the equal sign.

The support of Christian churches does not represent any nefarious and new penetration of religion into the Boy Scouts. Since its founding, the Boy Scouts has been based on traditional religious principles — nothing new here. The Supreme Court has affirmed the Boy Scouts’ right to express this principle in its membership.

I do not see why it is so hard for some “democrats” to extend their love for equality and free choice to freedom of association. There is nothing to prevent the formation of parallel institutions that articulate their own values.

Jack Kaczorowski

Los Angeles

The Boy Scouts has confirmed its exit from the American mainstream. It has made matters worse for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in saying it is protecting parents’ “right to address issues of same-sex orientation within their family, with spiritual advisors and at the appropriate time and in the right

setting.”

Those who openly discriminate use this mind-set to justify a disgraceful attitude that aims to shame the LGBT community (and atheists) into hiding. Parents looking for a program that includes a moral foundation will not find it in the Boy Scouts.

Roy Speckhardt

Washington

The writer is the executive director of the American Humanist Assn.

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