Today (Monday, Aug 3), Boy Scouts from the Order of the Arrow elite removed, without consent or permission, the contents of a queer-themed display case in our Memorial Union.

The display intended to show these leaders that queer members of the Boy Scouts exist.

One or two people did what they thought was right according to their bland, little, green and khaki paradigm, and thereby reinforced the narrow-mindedness the organization disguises with false leadership.

Any organization that denies privileges to people simply because they are of a different sexuality or gender orientation can never show true leadership. True leadership involves true preparation and awareness of the world around us.

Applause resounded from the NOAC membership accumulated around the display as it was torn down.

I hereby divulge to the Boy Scouts of America that queer people exist in their membership, and I implore them to recognize this.

Currently, the organization cherishes the self-righteous values of intolerance and alienation.

To deny activity to the unavoidable queer contingent of the Boy Scouts is to limit the organization to a glorified, fascist ideology and, at the same time, be stripped of these people’s past and potential contributions, queer or not.

That kind of activity only reinforces people’s motivation to act unnaturally and against their true selves to gain or maintain a cherished acceptance in an elite group of people.

Some poor little queer in that “audience” applauding for whichever Boy Scout knows how to pick a lock is torn between laniard life and the reality of queer existence among an intolerant group of peers.

I think the BSA has some good things to teach, but the boundaries they suppose to work with cripple their membership and deny them, at a very basic level, the skills the organization takes pride in “teaching.”

I would rather see the organization encourage the development of good, independent decision-making skills among its membership than be forced to witness the immaturity and contamination of these “skills” because they are taught through filters of bigotry and intolerance.

Boy Scouts should be prepared for the world that exists beyond the wilderness they long to inhabit.

They must realize that queerness cannot be stripped from their membership or from society in the same way that they tore away our display.

By taking this action, the BSA attempted to hide the undeniable queer presence from their general membership.

Folks, it’s just not as simple as that.

Hiding the unknown aspects of human life forces phobias on people, mental conditions inspiring hatred and intolerance of what is unknown.

For the Boy Scouts of America to continue on their quest to give boys the skills to mature into adulthood, they must focus clearly on what it is to be a prepared adult in this society.

What goes into preparation is not hiding the facts from those you hope to prepare, which clearly was the case today, but rather presenting all the facts as they truly manifest themselves around us.

In this way, our display case in the Union hoped to bring an organization that, in times of change, stands firmly rooted in the past, into the future world, where nobody can effectively escape without intuitive use of peripheral vision.

A hole formed by the glorification of a narrow-minded, outdated ideology will wilt away the future lives and intellects of their members if they refuse now to acknowledge the present and be prepared for the future.

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Tom Van Waardhuizen

Junior

English