A matter of injustice

Dear editor:

Before I get busy and forget to do so, I want to commend highly Madelyn Young’s letter in the Aug. 6 issue, challenging that of Craig Joyner in the Aug. 1 issue where Craig supports the recent decision of Boy Scouts of America leadership in continuing to ban gay young men.

Madelyn is accurate in saying that sexual orientation is not a “learned” thing. And it is an act of injustice to use sexual orientation to prevent young men who desire to be a part of a long- lasting and great organization from that opportunity to share and learn together so many skills that prove helpful in adult life. My son, happily married with two sons of his own, joined Cub Scouts years ago, at a time when black boys were being banned by local troops. He and others who were taught the principles of justice fought that fight and won.

As an educator of some 48 years, I discovered hundreds and hundreds of writers, scientists, military heroes – men and women from all walks of life who helped make our nation the great nation that it is. I am proud to be living in the 21st century when many of the injustices of the past are being corrected – injustices toward minority groups, females in the work place, and gay men and women. The nation, that from the beginning has declared that it promotes “liberty and justice for all,” is finally coming to the realization that injustice is simply that, and nothing more. In the case of gay men and women, it is their right to remain “in the closet” should they choose; it is also their right to have the courage to let all the world know – and the Boy Scout leadership should be ashamed to ban those young men who may become some of our strongest leaders in community life and in the nation.

I am well aware that in our representative democracy – “the Republic for which it ( our flag) stands” – that the majority rules. That does not, however, make the majority right, especially when it comes to the matter of injustice in our society.

Madelyn is correct also when she reminds the readers that so- called Christians tried to stop integration of blacks and whites in the ’ 60s and ’ 70s, including pastors who denounced it from their pulpits. Remember also that the battle over slavery that resulted in the War Between the States included splits of major denominations, one side of each defending slavery as God- inspired and instituted.

Finally, when one searches records, he/ she finds that Madelyn is correct again in stating that most of the horrible sexual molestation of children, male and female, and youths is perpetrated not by gays but by so- called heterosexual citizens. We readers and voters need to stop making assumptions and start performing research if we really want the facts.

It is obviously not easy being born with a sexual orientation that does not seem to meet the norm. I sat in my office often in my years of teaching and listened to unpleasant stories of bullying and discrimination and the desire to be oneself openly, and some were footfall players. Most of those were shedding tears in the midst of their stories. Perhaps that is what the parable is teaching us when it says, “The blind are the ones who see.” Now if this principle of mine makes me a “liberal” in the eyes of the public, so be it. As a follower of the greatest teacher who ever lived, I believe it, and I must say it. John W. “Doc” Crawford

Hot Springs