Maybe we could learn a lot from the President of the Boy Scouts of America whose motto is "Be Prepared".
Robert Gates, serving for over 16 years in the two successive Presidential administrations of both George Bush and Barak Obama as Secretary of Defense and Director of the Central Intelligence, called on Thursday, May 21st to end the scouts' ban on gay adult leaders, warning the executives that
"we must deal with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be.”You can watch and read the whole address from the BSA National Convention on May 20 by going to this link: http://scoutingnewsroom.org/blog/watch-and-read-bsa-president-dr-robert-m-gates-addresses-boy-scouts-of-america-national-annual-meeting/
He said recent events "have confronted us with urgent challenges I did not foresee and which we cannot ignore."
Dr. Gates cited the recent defiant announcement by the BSA's New York chapter in early April that it had hired the nation's first openly gay Eagle Scout as a summer camp leader. He also cited broader developments related to gay rights.
Here in Mesa there is continuing forward momentum on the approval of an anti-discrimination and anti-bias ordinance, despite some media reports that it is "on hold" while Mayor Giles appears to wobble on exercising the necessary leadership to support the strong feelings for all-inclusive values and justice some people like Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, openly support.
Gates goes on: "I remind you of the recent debates we have seen in places like Indiana and Arkansas over discrimination based on sexual orientation, not to mention the impending U.S. Supreme Court decision this summer. . . "
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