It s once in a pink moon that I take the side of the New York Times editorial page over its far superior counterpart at The Wall Street Journal, but on the controversy regarding gays in the Boy Scouts, put me in the Times column. Last Wednesday, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts can t exclude gays from its ranks. Sounds fair to me. The Scouts argue that it s a private organization, even though it s had 87 million members in its history, and that it s having its First Amendment rights violated. Seems to me that we ve been down this road before, years ago, with racial disputes.
Surely families have rights too notably the right to freely associate with whomever they wish.
I was a Boy Scout for years, as were my four brothers, in Huntington s Troop 12. Rather, they wanted us to have another outlet to meet new people, one that would include hiking, learning to tie knots, identifying flora and fauna and writing essays on citizenship and history. Besides, as my mother used to say, one more extracurricular activity would help on college applications. I wouldn t have known or cared. Obviously, any scoutmaster who molests or harasses his charges needs to be dismissed same as any teacher or anyone else in the workplace.