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Re: Boy Scout Open Source



 I don't want to get too political on BLU, and I guess I did start it, but 
in my defense, IMHO, I think it is important to consider who gets our 
charitable help as free software advocates. 

No gays or atheists allowed in the scouts. Since neither myself, some of 
my friends, nor some members of my family are allowed to join or volunteer 
for them, I can't in good conscience support them. 



> On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 9:41 AM,  <[hidden email]> wrote: 
>> I don't know if I speak for anyone else, but I despise the BSA. Their 
>> views on homosexuality and religion seem too exclusive to me. The fact 
>> they went to court to institutionalize discrimination makes them 
>> unacceptable. 
> 
> Wait, the Business Software Alliance or the Boy Scouts Association?  I 
> had no idea the boy scouts were anti-gay and actually fought for it in 
> court.  It would be more impressive if the Business Software Alliance 
> were anti-gay :-P  Anyway, this is all quite ridiculous.  Hasn't 
> America grown up to realize that even if two people are gay together 
> that it doesn't really affect you and that you should just learn to 
> deal with it?  Some jerk stands up holding a bible and yelling being 
> "gay" is a sin.  And the old testament also states that sacrificing 
> virgins is acceptable.  If you don't want gays, you must slay virgins. 
>  Ummmmm, yeah, this is not a well-formed argument and I will just stop 
> now.  But seriously, I had no idea the boy scouts were anti-gay, and 
> now that I know, I will never support them. 
> 
>> I have friends and family that are gay and it seems against the 
>> principles 
>> of freedom and inclusiveness of the open source / free software movement 
>> to support them unless they are equally open. 
> 
> One of my roommates is gay.  And I have many gay friends.  There 
> should be freedom of choice to be gay.  There are many gay people in 
> the FOSS and hacker communities.  In fact, anyone who has even sent or 
> received an email can thank someone who is gay.  Eric Allman, the 
> creator of sendmail, is openly gay.  So such organizations as the Boy 
> Scouts should never send or receive email if they choose not to be 
> affiliated :-)  Of course, our GPL licenses are not so restrictive to 
> discriminate against even the Boy Scouts, and that is the whole 
> point... 
> -- 
> Kristian Erik Hermansen 
> -- 
> CISSP, CEPT, CREA, CEH, Linux+, A+, QGCS, ACSA, this is getting 
> ridiculous... 
> http://kristian-hermansen.com
> 


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