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Originally Posted by M. Krass
Further down, under "Additional Resources," we find, "Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has kindly made its materials on child abuse prevention available to participants in the FIRST program."
I am not clear on the benefits found in working side by side with an organization (The Boy Scouts of America) that actively and openly promotes discrimination against homosexuals as a matter of policy. This is not something to broadcast from the rooftops, but something to be ashamed of, as far as I'm concerned.
The Boy Scouts of America has clearly demonstrated its inability to make informed decisions about the safety of its participants by implementing a discriminatory policy regarding homosexuality. It operates under assumptions garnered from bad- or no-science and thus, if the protections afforded to FIRST participants are based on the system used by the Boy Scouts of America, I have very little faith in the effectiveness this will have in enacting true protection. But again, true protection is a side-effect rather than a motivating factor, it seems.
Furthermore, given the lack of clarity provided regarding exactly what constitutes a "red flag" on a person's background check, I am very suspicious of what policies, procedures and assumptions have been borrowed from the Boy Scouts of America.
I am very interested in seeing FIRST disavow itself of any cooperation or involvement with the Boy Scouts of America in all regards, as well as with any other organizations that actively promote intolerance and baseless discrimination.
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Having seen the materials the BSA publishes on child abuse prevention numerous times, I would not be too concerned. It's basically just a set of very generic videos and pamphlets on how to recognize and avoid child abuse situations. While you are entitled to your beliefs about the Boy Scouts of America, not all agree, and I personally do not see a need for FIRST to "disavow itself of any cooperation or involvement." Obviously, they do not believe what you do in what is a controversial issue. I do not think that borrowing a video and pamphlet series, which, to the best of my knowledge, does not even touch on such issues as homosexuality, is of great danger to FIRST.