I hope it's OK to post Kendall Wilcox, Mormons Building Bridges, FB status. It is self-explanatory:


BSA has announced they may be close to announcing an end to their official ban on gay members and leaders. National headquarters is being inundated with calls opposing this announcement. MBB is inviting (encouraging) all 2,372 of our members to send an email and/or phone call to BSA headquarters expressing your support and thanks. Let's overwhelm them with positive reinforcement! When I called to get contact info the man I spoke with said they had never been so busy and nearly all the callers were unhappy about lifting the ban. Let's give BSA overwhelming support!
1. Letters should be short and respectful and positive.
2. Clearly state that you support them removing the official ban.
3. Include your experience with scouting (former scout, eagle scout, parent of eagle scout, etc.)
4. If you feel comfortable, sign Mormons Building Bridges after your name
************CONTACT INFO*********
email: myscouting@scouting.org (Subject line: Opinion on Sexual Orientation Policy)
phone: 972-580-2000 (Be prepared to wait a very long time. Say you are calling to have your opinion be recorded regarding the ban on their Sexual Orientation Policy)

It's another organized hate campaign orchestrated by religion.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2013 10:00PM by Dave the Atheist.

Who are they building bridges with again?

I don't think gays are any more abusive toward children than straights. That's just my opinion. I don't have any studies to prove that one way or the other.

That being said, I wouldn't send my young son with anyone to an overnight scout camp except his father. My sons never went to scout camp without their father. That meant that their father had to be involved in scouts. He was always the scout master.

Sending my son with a gay adult male would be the same as sending my young daughter with an adult male for a week of overnighters. Hell would freeze over before I did that. I don't see why I should feel any different about putting a male child in that situation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2013 12:02AM by Mia.

UC Davis is one of the more conservative universities in CA.

http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_molestation.html

MJ - I lived in Davis for years and worked for the University. I thought it was very liberal. I'm just curious as to why you think it's conservative.

I went to Cal Polly San Luis Obispo, it was the most conservative school in the state university system. It would still be considered liberal by BYU standards.

OK, that makes sense. I did go straight from BYU to work in Davis while I dated that law student and started my MA. I also went back after my mission. I really loved it but I was coming from hyper Mormon environments both times.

Mia,

you DO understand that in inner city America, far over 50% of youth have no connections at all with their fathers?

what do you propose those fatherless youth do?

not just the sons, the daughters?

Oh, and their mothers have service industry jobs and are required to work on weekends.

and they typically have younger siblings at home.

what is your suggestion for those scouts, you know, the youth disenfranchised by the Industrial Revolution in England for which Lord B-P invented scouting in the first place?

Scouting was created for those youth in particular, would love to hear your answer.

In that case, my sons wouldn't have been going on any overnighters. It may sound harsh, but it's as simple as that.

Agreed with Mia.

and give scouting back to those for whom it was created.

fair enough?

I wish the poster who opposed gays in BSA wasn't deleted.

My kid won't be joining if gays aren't allowed. Even then, I need to know more about BSA. But, I'm still interested in hearing the opposition.

I am all for equal rights under the government for all gender and sexual identities. In the military , in unions, call it marriage or what ever. However, I think Boy Scouts is different.

We all have a right to decide how we are going to teach our own children. If you don't like the way an organization is going to teach your son, THEN BY ALL THAT MAKES SENSE in the world, don't have your son join that organization! The parents who don't want to teach their kids that homosexuality is ok, are now in the exact same spot that the people who wanted to teach their kids that homosexuality is ok, were in yesterday. Why? Are people who have a moral problem with homosexuality less important that people who do not? As long as the Boy Scouts still teach tolerance (not acceptance, but mutual respect.) then I don't see a problem.

The further I get from the mormon church the more "Live and Let Live." I become. I am socially progressive. But others are not. Why are my standards IT? Why? This is a huge country. We have room for many beliefs.

Because there are gay kids who need to know a major segment of the population is on their side.

Really? They don't know that? One can't turn on the tv or go on the internet without seeing a major Hollywood star talking about that exact same thing.

The Boy Scouts will change. They are already loosing funding and the support of society.

They will change or become irrelevant.

Just like any all white organization said about blacks.

Because no matter what some people believe, homosexuality IS okay, and to continue to discriminate against gay youth and leaders is NOT.

Why is it ok? Who made you the authority? Who made anyone the authority saying it is bad? Who made anyone the authority for anything? Why can't we have it both/all ways? People aren't inherently bad because they don't like the act of homosexuality. They are just who they are. I don't think they should judge by one simple thing but I don't think gays should expect acceptance. They should expect equality under the law, but thats it. People are disliked for all kinds of reasons that probably shouldn't matter. What are we gonna do about that? I would teach, "Ok so that person doesn't like you. Stop thinking about them. They don't matter. Let's go find you some friends who WILL like you."

The government shouldn't discriminate of course. But you can't dictate what individuals do. You can't dictate what clubs do.

What is the purpose?

By your response, I'm assuming you are straight. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

You don't think gays should expect acceptance. What if we turned that around and said that straight people shouldn't expect acceptance? We are all human and we all deserve acceptance and love. Another way to say it would be that blacks shouldn't expect acceptance. Or tht women shouldn't. It's ridiculous.

Considering 1500 species of animals have homosexual members, who is it that has the right to make it wrong.

Then considering only one species has members that are homophobic, why should we listen to the homophobes?

Just to put the cat amongst the pigeons...good old BP (Baden-Powell) encouraged and took pleasure in watching the young scouts exercise naked. It was healthy don't cha know?

I agree with Mia and Bingoe4.

I'm glad this was posted, though, because now I know that I will need to contact the BSA and let them know how I feel.

I think that people who support things like this tend to hang out with other people who support things like this and misjudge what the majority of people think.

I was grateful for the chance to get out into the world without my parents. I had a chance to find my own way in the world without an overprotective parent hovering over my every move.

As a nevermo, I would think that Mormons would be the first ones NOT to discriminate against other groups, since they know what it's like to be at the receiving end of discrimination.
Naive thinking I guess.

The group Mormons Building Bridges is a front for discrimination against gays. They just want to put a nicer face on that discrimination.

http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/article-445-16030-broken-bridge.html

This is from the readers comments below an article in the Huffington Post:

It's good that MBM marched in the Salt Lake City Pride Parade. 5% of a loaf is better than none. BUT…

MBB self-proclaims as "faithful" Mormons. There are no stated differences between MBB's and the Mormon Church's "basic beliefs" regarding homosexuality. Indeed, MBB censors and deletes Facebook comments critical of Mormon anti-gay doctrine and discrimination.

Consider, too, the astonishing response of prominent MBM member Kendall Wilcox regarding Leviticus, which demands killing gay lovers. When asked, "Did it apply one thousand years ago? Was it right then?," Wilcox replied, "Possibly."

His subsequent counterfactual denials notwithstanding.

As part of its "basic beliefs," the LDS Church declares homosexuality to be "sinful" and "immoral", citing Leviticus 20:13, which commands that gay lovers be killed. The Church also the New Testament passage Romans 1:24-32, which states that gay lovers "are worthy of death." Finally, the Church is decidedly and actively against equal employment and gay marriage, declaring "we cannot stand idle if they ["so-called gays and lesbians"] indulge in immoral activity, if they try to uphold and defend and live in a so-called same-sex marriage situation."

These are the tenets to which the MBB faithful adhere. Although the MBM march has been hailed as a step in the right direction, a step that travels no distance is no step at all.
------- end excerpt from comments by Gregory Clark.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/03/over-300-mormons-join-uta_0_n_1566666.html

Wow... I'm kind of surprised at some of the comments here. I guess I shouldn't be, because this is such a diverse group.

I guess to those over protective parents who would never allow their children to go on an overnight camp out unless a parent were there, I would ask, Do you let your kids go to school? Do you let them go on sleep overs with friends? Do you ever let them out of your sight? Terrible things have happened to kids, and not always on an overnight camp out with multiple supervising adults. (See catholic priests as one example).

Don't get me wrong, I understand the concern, but you are also raising your kids to not trust and to live in a paranoid world. There are reasonable checks that can be done (how many leaders are going, how long have they been leaders, what have other parent had to say about it, etc).

We live in one of the safest times in the history of the planet, yet, some people persist in the belief that it's one of the most dangerous. I don't understand it.

To those who ironically ask "Why is it ok? Who made you the authority?" (while pretending to be an authority on the matter saying it's not OK) Shouldn't the question of what two people do in privacy, while not harming (and in fact showing love for) each other be "Why is it not OK? Who made you the authority to question them? Shouldn't you mind your own business, like I'm guessing you'd like them to do with you?"

I know RfM goes in cycles, lately the board seems to be a bit off... Maybe it's just me though.

State of Fear, and it is just about this.

the point is that fear is an industry. We have to have fear. it keeps people obeying the law, lawyers litigant against bogeymen (like silicon gel implants and power lines) and news outlets with something to report (more after this message).

according to the book, words like crisis, catastrophe, disaster, critical have doubled and then tripled in media since 1989.

what happened in 1989, the Soviet Union collapsed and we lost our real bogeyman.

yes, we have never lived in safer times, but where's the money in that?

Kendall Wilcox is caught between who he is and what he believes about the Universe. He thinks he can build a bridge between the two but it's like trying to bridge the Atlantic. Some things are impossible. I think he's sincere in his beliefs but doesn't realize what he's trying to do is impossible. However, if he is able to open some peoples' minds - that's probably the best he can hope for.

Also, I think it's interesting that so many people worry about gays and kids when there are stories in the news all the time about Jr. High and High School teachers seducing their opposite sex students. Just because you are attracted to men or to women doesn't mean you are attracted to children - that's a whole different subject and there are plenty of heterosexuals (Joseph Smith, for example) that fall into the "attracted to children" category.