They tried to sneak it through, but got caught. They ended up with a condemnation, rather than a commendation.
Supporters
bring you Rob Sherman Advocacy.
Click here to join them.
The Boy Scouts office in Highland Park, Illinois, submitted, without any publicity, a proclamation to the village manager of Buffalo Grove. They requested that Village President Elliott Hartstein proclaim today as the 91st Anniversary Day of the Boy Scouts of America in Buffalo Grove.
What the Boy Scouts didn't tell anyone was that the fine print of the proclamation contained an endorsement of the Boy Scouts discriminatory policies. What the Boy Scouts didn't know is that Buffalo Grove has an e-mail subscription service, in which village residents sign up to receive village government news, including advance copies of the Preliminary Agenda of the Village Board of Trustees, complete with documents such as proposed proclamations; and that I'm a subscriber.
The Boy Scouts proclamation, which the Boy Scouts wrote, themselves, was entitled, "Declaring February 8, 2001, as the 91st Anniversary Day of the Boy Scouts of America in Buffalo Grove." However, the second line of the proclamation consisted of the following phrase: "Whereas, we recognize Scouting in its role of showing our youth how to be good citizens."
The Boy Scouts were trying to scam an endorsement of their discriminatory policies from the village by getting the Village President to issue a proclamation which appeared to be about noting BSA's anniversary. This is what I call the "mixed subject" scam. Pretend that the subject of the proclamation is about an anniversary, when the real purpose for trying to get the proclamation declared was to trick the village into giving an implied endorsement of BSA's bad citizenship policies.
Acting in behalf of the members of National Atheists, I met with Village President Hartstein two days before the Village Board meeting was to take place to urge him to reject the proposed proclamation. I pointed out that the purpose of the proclamation was political, not commemorative. I asked Hartstein just what it is about discrimination that constitutes good citizenship? How does discrimination on account of theological opinion or sexual orientation constitute good citizenship? I told Hartstein that there is nothing wrong with recognizing the contributions made to the community by residents of the community, but that the Village President should not issue a proclamation that implies that the village condones discriminatory policies which are so outrageous that the village had to kick the BSA out of the police department, four years ago, because BSA refused to allow my son to participate in the police department's government operated, publicly funded, BSA-affiliated youth education program known as the Buffalo Grove Police Explorers.
Hartstein said that he shared my concern, would re-evaluate whether or not to issue the proclamation, and would decide what to do sometime between our meeting and the start of the Village Board meeting. When the Board met this past Monday night, Harstein had decided to reject the entire BSA-written proclamation, which endorsed BSA's discriminatory policies and commended the national BSA organization. Instead, Hartstein issued his own proclamation, which condemned BSA's discriminatory policies, but recognized the contributions to the community of the local Scouts.
Instead of commending BSA, the village condemned BSA.
Instead of saying that the village recognizes Scouting in its role of showing our youth how to be good citizens, the village said that it repudiates Scouting for showing youth how to be bad citizens. In fact, the Village of Buffalo Grove rejecting as false each and every one of the four values claims that had been made by the Boy Scouts in their BSA-written proclamation.
Local Scouting officials were so embarrassed about getting caught trying to sneak through an implied endorsement of their un-American policies that not a single BSA representative showed up at the Village Board meeting to receive the proclamation condemning them. Local Boy Scouts are so ashamed of the discriminatory policy, and of getting caught trying to sneak through an endorsement of it, that not one single Scout showed up at the meeting to accept the proclamation and be seen by their neighbors wearing the uniform of bigotry.
I attended the meeting, however. During "Citizens' Comments," I thanked the Village President and the members of the Board of Trustees for rejecting the BSA-written proclamation and, instead, issuing a proclamation condemning the BSA. I informed Arlene Holloman, State Director of American Atheists, about the controversy and invited her to attend the meeting. She did, and spoke briefly during Citizens' Comments.
Wearing the BSA uniform around here has become as humiliating as wearing a Confederate Flag emblem on your clothes. Being a member of National Atheists, on the other hand, is regarded with an unprecedented high level of respect.
The above story demonstrates how just one person, acting alone or in behalf of a national organization, can have a significant, positive impact on the community. One person can fight City Hall and win, if you know what you are doing and if you are right.
The Daily Herald, Illinois' third largest newspaper, ran a story about this situation, yesterday. Here is an "archive/library copy" of that story:
 |
|
|
|
| February 08, 2001 |  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Protest tempers town's praise for Boy Scouts By Steve Zalusky Daily Herald Staff Writer Posted on February 07, 2001 With its stand on homosexuality and its appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Boy Scouts of America has lately been as much about controversy as it has been about knot-tying and flag-raising. Controversy followed the group to Buffalo Grove this week. The agenda for Monday's village board meeting contained a resolution recognizing Thursday as the 91st anniversary of the Boy Scouts. It praised the organization's role in showing youths how to become good citizens and tomorrow's leaders. But noted local atheist activist Rob Sherman, who receives the agendas via e-mail, saw the declaration and brought it to village president Elliott Hartstein's attention over the weekend at one of Hartstein's coffees. As a result, the declaration was changed to honor local scout groups, while giving token mention to the Boy Scouts' anniversary. In addition, the resolution emphasized, "(It) is not intended by this proclamation to endorse or condone the national policies of the Boy Scouts of America in light of our community's respect for diversity." The original proclamation had been drafted by the village at the request of Northeast Council No. 29 of the Boy Scouts of America, based in Highland Park. But Hartstein said he was unaware of the item before Sherman brought it to his attention. "Discrimination is not good citizenship," said Sherman, who sued the Boy Scouts of America because they would not admit his son - an atheist - into its Explorer program with the Buffalo Grove Police Department. He dropped the suit when the police severed ties with the Boy Scouts, allowing his son to join a new youth organization the department formed. "I think scouting is a worthwhile activity," Hartstein said. "I think the local scout troops in our community are commendable and deserve to be given proper recognition. "But I wanted to make it clear that I wasn't condoning the national policies of the Boy Scouts of America, which are less than inclusive." Attempts to reach the Boy Scouts office in Highland Park were unsuccessful.
|
|
|
||
| Copyright © Daily Herald, Paddock Publications, Inc. | Top | Home | Search | Feedback | |
The Pioneer Press newspapers' Buffalo Grove Countryside has promised to do a story for next Thursday's editions.
Rob Sherman P. O. Box
7410
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089-7410
A post office box is used
because
the street address uses a curb mail box,
which is not secure.
Telephone: (847) 870-0700
Fax: (847) 870-1156
E-mail: rob followed by the at symbol followed by robsherman dot com
