(Barf Alert) Suggestions for Leading a Protest (against Scouts)

O

Oatka

New member
If you can keep your breakfast down, there are some good hints for our side.

Scouting For All

Suggestions for Leading a Protest

1. Inform the police in your area of your intention to have a protest and give them the location, date and time. You may need a permit.

2. Call your local paper and inform them of the protest location, date and time.

3. Be creative. Make signs on poster board and use big markers in dark colors to get your message across. If you do not have the funds to do this, simply march and start a group chant. We have been singing, "Scouting is for all," to the tune of, "we shall overcome."

3. March back and forth in front of the council office where the police have okayed you to be.

4. If you have a large enough group, you may be able to interest local celebrities to participate as speakers. This is not necessary for the protest to be successful, but it is just something to consider.

5. If only one person is present to protest you become a voice, a physical presence for human rights. Let us all dig down deep inside and find the courage, the compassion, the heart, and the love to stand forth and be counted. We mustn't turn our backs on our gay scouts, our gay youth. Come join us in this day when we all hold the line together for human rights!

Ideas for posters

B. S. A. stands for - Bigoted Scouts of America

The BSA has been "outed" as a bigoted organization

The religious fundamentalist have taken over the BSA

President Clinton says, "It is un-American for an American to discriminate against another American" You decide if the BSA is acting un-American

The BSA just teaches us Scouts to discriminate

Matthew Shepard was murdered by an Eagle Scout
"How can the BSA, which is supposed to represent the very best in our society embrace the very worst, bigotry and discrimination." Steven Cozza, Eagle Scout

Let's take back the BSA from the Religious fundamentalists

The BSA violates their own Scout Law and Oath with their practice of discrimination

Scouting: Friendly, Courteous, Kind to Gay Youth?
(Part of the Scout Law is to be "friendly, courteous, kind.")

BSA's message murdered Matthew Shepherd and Brandon Teena

Roy Williams: Tell it to my mother's face

Self-esteem for all youth

Stand up, speak up: A Scout is Brave

Scouting teaches prejudice

BSA: Straight and Narrow

"On my honor, I will do my duty to God..." (a quote from the Scout oath)
...and not judge others
...and help the oppressed
...and love my neighbor

I love Scouting & I love my boyfriend

More Suggestions for Organizing a Protest from a Scouting For All supporter!!!

I am very impressed with the work that you continue to do. Its importance extends far beyond the world of Scouting (although that is a very important world, indeed).

I am a Media Specialist and a sponsor of a lesbian and gay student organization at a community college in St. Louis. As such I would like to make some recommendations to individuals choosing to carry signs while protesting in front of BSA headquarters. This is gleaned from my MBA studies in marketing and from attending and participating in other protests. Please feel free to include these recommendations in your web page and/or edit them as you see fit:

* Keep the words on signs short and easy to read. No one is going to be able to read eloquent discourse while traveling at 35 to 65 MPH. You can't read tiny letters on your TV screen or in pictures in the newspaper. Learn from all those billboards on the highway. Less is more!
* Use large, high contrast letters that can easily be read from 25 to 75+ feet away. If it can't be read from that distance, you may be wasting your time. Use the power of computers to make your letter large and with simple fonts.
* When marching, hold the signs up so they can easily be read. About 25% to 50% of signs in some protests can't be read. That's a waste of your message, energy and time. We've all got a job to do so let's do it right.
* Think in terms of "sound bites." Corporations and politicians spend millions of dollars on sound bites because they know that they work. Think of how what you say or have on your sign would look in print, seen on TV, or said by a reporter. Then come up with a few short, strong messages that will cut through the media "clutter" that's out there. Make it memorable!
* Stay away from obscenities and other verbage that can backfire on you. Remember that the focus needs to be on how the BSA leadership hurts kids. You don't want to be portrayed negatively like followers of Fred Phelps who carry signs proclaiming "God Hates Fags."
* If you will be using chants, think them out carefully ahead of time. Have them printed up on half pages of paper to pass out. They can also include other useful info on them like web addresses, plans for future activities, "factoids" about BSA, etc. Make the chants easy to say, easy to understand (when chanted by a large group), memorable, and have a few that are also fun!. The old "Two...Four...Six...Eight......." and its variations can be very effective. Also effective is the chant "Shame...Shame...Shame!" while pointing your finger at the BSA headquarters. Be creative.
* Start the protest with a short speech (5 to 15 minutes MAX!) and end with a quick wrap-up. Make sure you have a good
bullhorn or PA system with fresh batteries. If people can't hear what you are saying, you are wasting their time and showing them disrespect. Tell people why they are there, what you will be doing, give a few ground rules, and thank them for their support. Then after the marching protest, give a short speech, thank them for their support, and tell them how they can contact you for future activities.

Now for just a few suggestions for the signs: BSA Hurts Gay Kids; BSA Teaches Hatred and Lies; BSA Preaches Bigotry and Homophobia; BSA Leaders Disgrace Scouting; BSA Leaders Have No Honor; BSA Unfair To Gay Kids; BSA: Why Do You Preach Hatred?; Bigoted Scouts of America; BSA Leaders Trash the Scouting Oath; BSA Promotes Bigotry and Hatred; BSA Bashes Gay Kids; Shame on BSA; Gay Scouts Are NOT "Unclean"; Gay Scouts Are NOT "Immoral"; BSA: Stop the Hate, Stop the Lies; BSA: Why Do You Hate Gay Kids?
-- 30 --

BTW, they have a poll: "Do you think that an openly gay scoutmaster is a good roll model for young boys."
Yes 6%
No Way!!! 94%
Don’t Know 1% (??)

It's at: http://www.scoutingforall.com/




[This message has been edited by Oatka (edited September 08, 2000).]
 
Oh geeze.. fighting a lost cause.

------------------
God, Guns and Guts made this country a great country!

oberkommando sez:
"We lost the first and third and now they are after the Second!(no pun intended)"
 
Just when I thought liberals couldn't go any lower, they target the Boy Scouts. The Scouts are one of the best youth organizations this country has ever had, or will ever have. Despite what these Scouting bigots say.

Perhaps the only solution is an entire 'cleansing' of governement expenditures. I'd go for that, and I'll bet a lot of folks would. No sweetheart deals of government property for the Boy Scouts. Period. No sweetheart deals for any group in society. Strict interpretation of the Constitution, so that we have government out of our lives as much as possible.

No National Endowment for the Arts, either. Get rid of every department, every bureaucracy, and every employee not called for by the orginal, enumerated powers granted to our federal government.

And, if the gay groups are willing to stop lobbying Congress to spend more of our tax money on Aids research (or any other malady for that matter), then at least they'll be consistent in this blasphemy against the Boy Scouts.

But, that's not really what this is about, is it? In spite of honest, heartfelt protestations of some TFL members, I sincerely doubt that gay groups would really accept the condition that they no longer receive special governmental help. He!!, look at the 'hate crimes' fiasco. Gays, and others, have been calling for enhanced punishments for attacks upon them. [Despicable as any of these attacks are, it is absurd to treat one murderer different from another, IMHO.]

No, this is exactly what it appears ... a tantrum being thrown because they cannot force a large group in society to accept their lifestyle. No more, no less.

Typical liberal hypocrisy. But, if they really will eschew all government ties, then I think the Boy Scouts should do the same. Otherwise, to hell with these gay protests. If gay groups like Lamda think this will aid their cause, they are wrong. They will simply elevate the level of hate, and increase the polarization on this front.

But, I suppose this may be exactly what they want - in this case, the more hatred they create, the more need for gay organizations, like Lamda and 'Scouting for All'. I'm sure this helps build membership in gay groups, which produces money and jobs.

As a good friend says ... 'politics works ... just not the way you think it does ...'.

Regards from AZ

[This message has been edited by Jeff Thomas (edited September 08, 2000).]
 
I was a boy scout and I have gay friends... deal with it.

By the way not that anyone cares but its a Good bet Baden Powell was gay... Deal with it.

This is the ONLY organization that BOTHERS to teach our kids ANYTHING about Civics, ethics and morals in our society without being overly religious. They don't teach good citizenship in public schools anymore. There is room for discussion here folks. Discussion.. not crazed incoherent left and right wing babble.

I recall meeting scouts from other countries with other religions and embracing them as equals THROUGH the brotherhood of scouting.. this "protest" is a mockery of that spirit and I'm saddened by it.

The idea that anyone be "left out" of the experience of scouting, also saddens me. Does a 12 year old "know" what he or she IS at that age??

Or are we discussing JUST the leaders?
I'm really torn on this one folks.. really torn. We all had that english teacher who dressed like a man and smoked cigars.. we all knew "something was odd" but not "what" exactly.. did it DIMINSH my ability to learn english?? Not in the slightest.

grrrr... I don't know what else to say.. but i'll leave you all with this.

Everything I needed to know I learned in kindergarden AND the boyscouts.

Dr.Rob
 
"No, this is exactly what it appears ... a tantrum being thrown because they cannot force a large group in society to accept their lifestyle. No more, no less."

Sounds like gunowners and most of the posts on this board.
 
What I learned in the boy scouts...

Hot beer tastes bad. Cold beer doesn't taste quite as bad. Whiskey tastes horrid, but real men don't cry, choke, wheeze, cough, or puke on their buddy's sleeping bag.

If you don't touch a lit cigarette, it'll burn in the rain. If you don't touch a lit cigarette, the scoutmaster will see it, and you'll burn in the rain.

The girl scouts are on the other side of the ridge. There's barbed wire, strategically placed drainage ditches, and groundhog holes in the way. Plus, Farmer Brown had his cows up there, and the place is definitely "mined." Besides, you won't know what to do with one of 'em if you do catch her...

Stay away from the guy who thinks that it's funny to hold lit firecrackers between his toes. Don't piss him off, since his other idea of good fun is shooting arrows through both sides of the surplus GPMedium tents that folks are sleeping in... Just hope that he goes away before he makes a big mess...

Do not, under any circumstances (see above paragraph) awaken the Colonel after Taps... He's very irritable, and will smell slightly of whiskey (see paragraph 1).

It's possible to start a fire with two sticks. One of 'em had better be a match, and the other should be soaked in gasoline.

Study your first aid.

It's okay to talk like the Colonel does after he hits himself in the thumb with the tent stake hammer, as long as he doesn't hear you.
 
Guys, this Scouting for All group is trying to recast the issue in their own terms, rather than the original terms of the court case in New Jersey and the scouting position. Obviously we know how that works from our experience of HCI and other like groups.

In New Jersey a local charter organization, the local group that holds the charter to organize a scout unit, in this case a Boy Scout Troop, found that one of their adult volunteers, an Eagle Scout, was also becoming known in the community as a visible and identified spokesperson for Gay Rights. The local charter group found this inconsistent with their concept of local leadership and asked him to leave his volunteer post. He sued in New Jersey and when the local courts declared scouting a public accomodation he was ordered reinstated. This was appealed to the Supremes. No organization can afford to let that declaration of public accomodation stand since it opens the group to strict government regulation.

The official position of scouting as I understand it is that the status of an avowed, publicly declared and outspoken homosexual and the status of a registered scout or volunteer in scouting are not consistent. The person must choose to be one or the other, he cannot be both. And, as a private organization scouting has the right to be discrimanating about those who declare themselves contrary to the stated principles of scouting.

I'm over fifty and have worked with, associated with and been friends with homosexuals, male and female, all my adult life. And I remain very uncomfortable with my sons and other young men at an age when they are shaping their gender identities, being under the tutelege of an active apololgist for the gay lifestyle who is also in the role model position of a scout leader.

Those who want to paint this as an anti gay stance by BSA are as usual trying to reframe the argument away from the realities.

This has run on too long. Rant mode off!

Jim in Indiana

------------------
-- TANSTAAFL
 
MTAA,

Good point. However, I would dare venture that the act of self-defense doesn't offend the senses or go contrary to natural law.


KevinW,

There's no risk. It's your right to speak your mind, even through a misdirected protest such as this.

------------------
John/az
"When freedom is at stake, your silence is not golden, it's yellow..." RKBA!

See The Legacy of Gun Control film at: www.cphv.com

Do it for the children...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top