Judgment in Boy Scouts’ gay rights issue should be clear-cut

In the midst of the controversy over discrimination of gays in the Boy Scouts, the organization announced this week that it is delaying its decision on whether to lift the ban on gay members.

Currently they are not welcome in the organization, and this has brought the Christian-based organization under attack from gay rights activists, which have reached a higher level of aggressiveness in the past few years due to social change and progress.

Because the Boy Scouts is a Christian organization, some believe that banning gays is perfectly fine. But not only does this imply that discrimination will be tolerated by the state; it spreads the idea that discrimination is OK as long as religious beliefs are considered.

This discrimination is often mean-spirited and carried out in a way that seems to ostracize homosexuals who are “rooted out” of the Christian organization.

It is known that you can be religious and have faith at the same time, but these kinds of moves by the religious fundamentalists and the social conservatives drive a wedge between the Christian and the gay communities.  
It seems that fundamentalists not only frown upon social progress for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, they actively fight against it to continue the systematic discrimination of gays everywhere. While many see gay rights as a big leap for social progress and justice, some simply see it as a cultural war in which their morals are being challenged and threatened.

America should strive to end discrimination in every institution. We should not only say that we will not tolerate governmental discrimination, but also private discrimination. We should have no reason to be sensitive to bigotry — there is no such thing as tolerance of intolerance.

As the politics of LGBT issues progress and work toward equality, homophobia should not only be discouraged in America, it should be ridiculed.