Well I let my disgust for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) flow over into the work I do with Ubuntu. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but when someone added “Boy/Girl Scouts Computer Merit Badge Counseling” to our list of possible projects I had to let my personal objection be known.
For the uninitiated, the BSA is a private scouting organization in the US. Some would argue its existence is very much part of American culture and many American men have been involved with the group. The controversy? Somewhere along the way the BSA decided to become quite vocal about not accepting homosexuals in their organization. I personally know one gay Eagle scout who left the organization when the news broke, and many have since – either forced out when it was learned they were gay, or leaving on their own. OK, so they’re a private organization, they can do this, right? Sure, except they’ve been supported by public funds for years. Much of the direct contributions from the government have ceased, but public schools and buildings still offer them meeting space, portions of local, state and federal governments have worked out deals to lease land for events for the token amount of $1 – all at the expense of American taxpayers. I have a serious problem with this. If they didn’t get my tax money I’d still be opposed to them, but it wouldn’t make me so angry, but that is a tangent and doesn’t really have anything to do with this particular discussion.
Bottom line – I will never work on a project with the BSA. I don’t know the official Ubuntu stance on this (if any), so I won’t go as far as to say the team shouldn’t work with them. I pretty much just wanted to voice my objection.
Apparently I touched nerve. The team leader responded to my objection with this forum thread: Politics, Theology, and Ubuntu LoCo Teams. His intention is to reply to me (even if he misunderstood me) and try to bring the whole thing up for discussion and resolution. He made some excellent points that highlight the fact that it’s a complex problem. Since he wanted to make it a bigger discussion I posted a link to the Ubuntu-Women list with the OT header of “Ubuntu for All” (a mailing list for UFA was requested today in light of this). We’ll see where it goes. I honestly don’t think there is a clear cut solution unless the CC stands up and says “We don’t support discriminatory organizations” or “Spreading Ubuntu is more important than anything else” – I think discussion on a case-by-case basis is really the key. An objection from one person may be shared and an event just won’t happen if there isn’t enough support.
Discussion is good and I expect we’ll all come out of this more enlightened (I’d like to think we’re all friends), but I think my activism and “rocking the boat” does bother some people.