The Boy Scouts of America membership controversies center on the Boy
Scouts of America's policies that prohibit atheists, agnostics, and
"known or avowed" homosexuals from membership in its Scouting program;
both youths and adults have had their memberships revoked as a result.
The BSA contends that these policies are essential in its mission to
instill in young people the values of the Scout Oath and Law. These
policies are controversial and are considered by some to be unfair. The
organization's legal right to have these policies has been upheld
repeatedly by both state and federal courts. The Supreme Court of the
United States has affirmed that as a private organization, the BSA can
set its own membership standards. In recent years, the policy disputes
have led to litigation over the terms under which the BSA can access
governmental resources including public lands.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America_membership_controversies>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1580:
The Golden Hind sailed into Plymouth, England, as explorer Francis
Drake completed his circumnavigation of the globe.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Hind>
1789:
For his presidential administration, George Washington appointed Thomas
Jefferson as the first U.S. Secretary of State, John Jay as the first
U.S. Chief Justice, Samuel Osgood as the first U.S. Postmaster General,
and Edmund Randolph as the first U.S. Attorney General.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_George_Washington>
1907:
Newfoundland and New Zealand became dominions within the British
Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_of_Newfoundland>
1934:
The ocean liner RMS Queen Mary was launched in Clydebank, Scotland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Queen_Mary>
1957:
West Side Story, a musical written by Arthur Laurents, Leonard
Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim and based loosely on Shakespeare's Romeo
and Juliet, made its debut on Broadway.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Story>
1969:
Abbey Road, the final album recorded by The Beatles before publicly
announcing their breakup, was released.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
guillemet (n):
Either of the punctuation marks “<big>«</big>” or “<big>»</big>”,
used
in several languages to indicate passages of speech as the equivalent
of the English quotation marks
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/guillemet>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All is always now. Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension,
slip, slide, perish,
Will not stay still.
--T. S. Eliot
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot>