A coalition of homosexual activists and atheists plan to march on a Boy Scout camp in San Diego next month demanding the organization open its membership and leadership to them. The group Scouting For All plans to march and rally at a Boy Scout camp Oct. 9.
Beside demanding the Boy Scouts open their ranks to practicing homosexuals and atheists, the group also apparently seeks the admission of girls to the organization.
Scouting For All's mission statement say it is "to influence the Boy Scouts of America to serve and include as participating members all youth and adult leaders, regardless of their spiritual beliefs, gender, or sexual orientation."
In previous protests, the group has equated the Boy Scouts with the Ku Klux Klan. The group has attracted celebrities in its cause.
"Institutionalized homophobia in the Scouts or in church or school is the cruelest of all," said Ian McKellan, the actor who played Gandolf in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, in an appearance for the group. "It makes life miserable for young gay people and it misleads their peers with regard to the 'truth' about gay people – that they are remarkably similar to the rest."
Support for the latest protest of the Scouts by the group comes from the American Civil Liberties Union and some homosexual activist organizations.
Oh, golly. If I had but a platoon of plainclothes Marines with axe handles... |