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March 28
1934 - Bouquet Canyon Reservoir, replacement for ill-fated St. Francis Dam & reservoir, begins to fill with water [story]
Bouquet Reservoir


The Real Side | Commentary by Joe Messina
| Monday, Feb 4, 2013

mug_joemessinaAs a kid I remember having our GHC Club. That was the “Girls have Cooties” Club, if you were wondering. Only boys, and more specifically, only local shoe shine boys, were members.

That was the early 1970s. I lived in the city streets of Boston, before it was cool to live in a city like that, by the waterfront, before there were such things as condos. I joined the Cub Scouts probably because my mom (a single mom) thought it would be good for me to get into the woods see what real trees and grass looked like, and so I would have strong male role models.

When we moved to live close to my cousins, my new Cub Scout den leader also happened to be my aunt. Eww! A girl was leading the boys. How could that be?

It was very different. I was a little boy who needed guidance, and I needed a man to teach me how to be a man. A plumber can’t teach you how to be a jeweler any more than a woman can teach a boy to be a man or a man can teach a little girl to be a woman.

The Boy Scouts of America recently decided, after years of pressure, to allow gays to be Scout leaders. The decision was based largely on corporate pressure applied by pro-gay companies that threatened to pull funding (which they have every right to do). As a result, the Boy Scouts are “re-thinking” their rules.

The BSA decided not to force local chapters to accept gays (which they also have every right to do). Good for them, for now. It’s only a matter of time.

Religious groups that have always supported the Boy Scouts in a big way are now re-thinking their involvement with the group as a result of this change.

President Obama recently said he thinks the Boy Scouts should allow gays at every level in the organization. Once again, the president thinks, then speaks, and the damage begins.

Is anything sacred? Is any group allowed to have its own set of rules and way of doing things?

Now, don’t get radical on me, I’m not talking the KKK; the last I heard, the Boy Scouts aren’t burning crosses on lawns.

Maybe we should disband the Girl Scouts, Boys Scouts, Eagle Scouts, Brownies, Cubs Scouts, Weebelos and just make one big “Gender Neutral Scouts” or just “Scouts.” Do you see how ridiculous this gets?

Leave the Boy Scouts alone. Leave the Girl Scouts alone. If you want to show strength and diversity the American way, start the LGBT Scouts or any other kind of “Scouting” you want. Because they are different – as different as boys are different from girls, and as men are different from women.

We should continue to have the freedom to allow clubs, groups and churches the ability to serve specific subsets of people with common interests and beliefs without government intervention.

Just because the president thinks the Boy Scouts should allow gays at all levels, that doesn’t mean it’s the way things should be. This is a private organization. The government should be concerned with jobs and the economy, not interfering with the mission and goals of an organization it “feels” is not being fair to all human beings.

What’s next? Do Asian-American clubs now have to grant membership to those with Italian, Greek or whatever heritage? Will Hooters be forced to have male waitresses? I could fill up one of those T-shirts, but there wouldn’t be any people at my tables.

The government has no business getting involved in every aspect of our lives, every club, every organization or business. And the president doesn’t have all of the answers. Otherwise, we wouldn’t continue to be sinking deeper into the mess we’re in as a nation.

 

 

Joe Messina is host of The Real Side (TheRealSide.com), a nationally syndicated talk show that runs on AM-1220 KHTS radio and SCVTV [here]. He is also an elected member of the Hart School Board. His commentary publishes Mondays.

 

 

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6 Comments

  1. Jennifer R. says:

    So…in a nutshell you agree that the Boy Scouts should be allowed to discriminate against a certain group of people? Shameful. Fifty years ago you probably would have agreed with racial segregation too.

  2. Luke D. says:

    Agree Completely. There’s a huge difference between having freedoms, and trying to destroy laws and private organizations.

    They don’t want religion/ideas shoved down their throats, why try to shove their sexual preference into every aspect of life they can.

  3. Couldn’t agree more Mr. Messina! The LGBT/Pedophile community keeps trying to push their way into every institution imaginable. I’m not sure they’ll quit until Kinder-gardeners are learning about their sexual identity

  4. K says:

    The government didn’t do anything. One man who is highly involved in the government spoke his mind, but did not enforce or apply any rules or laws. As you said, companies threatened to pull funding. This decision is made by BSA. They don’t have to do it, but they’re seeing now that if they don’t it could be hurtful to them. Sure people are pressuring them, but no one is forcing. No laws were imposed on them, no government told them they have to. I agree that they don’t have to, but a lot of the American people wanted them to and so they did.

  5. Rick says:

    What a joke. This country is really getting goofy but this has been tried before.

    http://gryder.com/hooters/htguy.jpg

  6. Kelly says:

    The problem I have with this is that you stated they are different to the point of needing an LGBT club. So because they are gay, they are no longer a boy? It is “Boy Scouts” after all. Not “Straight Boy” scouts. That, and as much as I do believe everyone should be allowed to have and share their opinion, I do not believe you should have done so publicly on this matter. Simply, you are on the Hart school board, and there is a percentage of your students who may be gay, lesbian, bi, or transgender. By sharing how “different” you think they are and how you think they should be separated, you are setting a bad example for the students in your schools who do the same thing. Schools work hard to make students into accepting and confidence boosting students. That is why VHS has Circle of Friends. They try to make the student body more integrated and supportive of each other. How can a student learn to be supportive when a school district official is exemplifying the opposite?

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