GayPatriot

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Now, the Gay Left Hates Amazon

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Amazon has an option called Amazon Smile that lets consumers donate a portion of the purchase price of any product they purchase to be donated to a charity of their choice. One of the options is the Boy Scouts of America.

Cue leftist outrage.

Amazon is a progressive company, and it’s a friend of the LGBT community. Jeff Bezos donated several million dollars to Washington State’s marriage equality campaign. And that was exactly why I started a Change.org petition asking Amazon to follow its own polices, and to delist the BSA until they stop discriminating against Scout leaders like Geoff.

They won’t stop until every dissenter’s face has been ground under their (assuredly fabulous) boots.

Comments

  4. Can we stop, please stop already with trying to deny people their right to associate, right to freedom of speech (and thought), and freedom from fascism & being told what to do/think? Do your thang, I’ll do mine and let’s not try to change each other, ok? This has gone too far.

  5. Flyover Mom, the left will not stop until all dissent is crushed. Our only choices are to defeat them or capitulate to them; they cannot be reasoned with, bargained with, or compromised with.

  6. One of the options is the Boy Scouts of America.

    Option.

    You do not have to choose that one. So, what is demanding that the option be removed called? Suppression, domination, subjugation. It is from the medieval Latin “contratotulus” meaning exerting authority. In modern argot, it would be a “control freak.” It gives a core meaning to “contrary” which is the exerting of power simply for the show of power.

    When you can not abide the Amazon Smile program because one of its options “offends” your sensibilities, your first option is to kiss Amazon goodbye and then then strut about the streets stopping one in three and getting them to ally with you and take up your cause and change the world because you possess an idea whose time has come. Or not.

  7. The backlash has already started. They are setting themselves back. The act like self-destructive teens. Like most liberals, they are stuck in the teen-years.

    I mean 30-somethings discussing the hotness factor of teen idols? Stupid. Childish.

  8. Most gays are sheep, because the first vultures to jump on the “gay rights train” were Dems. Nevermind, that Dems are capable of being just as bigoted as everyone else & nevermind that conservatives have “to each their own” & “mind your own business” as their mantra.
    I see this as slowly turning around. Though glacial, at best. 😉
    Boycotting is a lib habit.

  9. Our only choices are to defeat them…

    Right.

    And here’s the way to do it:

    …won’t don’t stop until every dissenter’s leftist’s face has been ground under their our (assuredly fabulous fed up and pissed off) boots.

    Do unto them what they most certainly plan to do to us, and we’ll see most of this lunatic shi*t come to a screeching halt.
    And then we, the adults, can get back to the business of being in charge and living our lives in relative peace and quiet.

  11. The six-month-old program is run by the AmazonSmile Foundation, which donates 0.5 percent of shoppers’ purchases to a charity chosen by the shopper. Amazon customers who wish to participate can link a charity to their Amazon accounts by visiting the AmazonSmile website and choosing from a list of eligible organizations. The problem, Scouts for Equality says, is that the Boy Scouts of America is not an eligible organization, at least not according to Amazon’s own “Participation Agreement,” which explicitly prohibits organizations that discriminate based on sexual orientation from participating in the program.

  12. Last week, Scouts for Equality’s Pascal Tessier, an openly gay Eagle Scout, launched a Change.org petition calling on Amazon to suspend its support of the BSA until the organization ends its ban on LGBT adults. (It lifted the ban on gay scouts under 18 last year.) Zach Wahls, Scouts for Equality’s executive director, told International Business Times that the petition came about after Geoff McGrath, a gay scoutmaster for Troop 98 in Seattle, was fired from the BSA. The dismissal took place on April 1 after BSA officials learned of McGrath’s sexual orientation, which the BSA called “a distraction to scouting.”

    In a phone interview Friday, Wahls said the firing is just another example of the discrimination that continues within the Boy Scouts. “It was a clear demonstration of intolerant behavior,” Wahls said. “Amazon’s terms explicitly say organizations that promote intolerance are ineligible.”

  15. So if the Boy Scouts’ policy violates Amazon’s policy to begin with, why were they even an option?

    I try not to indulge in Rube-Goldman style conspiracy theories, but at this point, I would not be surprised if Boy Scouts was put on their with the intention that somebody would get outraged and protest.

  16. Since Rusty prefers not to speak for himself, it is difficult to take his “comments” as instructive. But this amuses me:

    which explicitly prohibits organizations that discriminate based on sexual orientation from participating in the program.

    The Boy Scouts do not admit females. That is base “discrimination” which is entirely gender fueled.

    So, I suppose, Rusty sees a clear difference between gender specific sexual orientation and free range sexual orientation. Never mind, he will have to dig around and find something to cut and paste rather than use his own mind.

  17. Great. Sitting with my friends here in Florida discussing this crap.. my straight, Right-leaning friends who are the most supportive and tolerant folks I know… are sick to death of it. Stop. You’re starting to screw with our natural differences and respectful diversity. We’ll be losing ground; wait, we already are. Please… put your vapid, tender-ass little feelings away; hide them where you put your vibrator when your mom visits and quit pretending to be ‘offended’ at every little effing thing.

  18. Based upon what little I’ve read about this story, I’m apparently the lone right-leaning dissenter here. The petitioners are correct: BSA clearly discriminates against homosexuals and Amazon’s own stated policy re. the Amazonsmile program is that it will not include charities that discriminate in this manner. So, Amazon is being hypocritical. I have no problem with a petition that requests a company practice what it preaches. I also have no problem with an organization such as BSA that does the same. I’m not required to associate with either.

    However, I’ve never understood why those who disagree with BSA feel they must change BSA. Why not simply start one’s own scouting association, one that allows homosexual scouts? That would be the logical, reasonable thing to do in a true marketplace of ideas. But of course reason and a free market are the last things left-leaners are interested in.

  19. They also include SPLC, CAIR, the International Muslim Brotherhood and the Girl Scouts.
    CAIR and the Brotherhood support the killing of Jews, Gays, and women.
    The Girl Scouts refuse to allow heterosexual males to be involved.
    SPLC makes it’s money from hate.
    Looks like they can’t remove the Boy Scouts without going in and gutting their list.

  20. BSA clearly discriminates against homosexuals and Amazon’s own stated policy re. the Amazonsmile program is that it will not include charities that discriminate in this manner

    The BSA discriminates against “openly gay” homosexuals as would-be scoutmasters. It does not discriminate against all homosexuals as a category, and does not prohibit local chapters from inviting openly gay men (or for that matter, women of any orientation) to volunteer as instructors of first aid, archery, pioneering (i.e., making towers/bridges out of wooden poles and rope), orienteering (i.e., map/compass skills) or whatever.

    (Of course, scoutmasters are expected to know things like orienteering and first aid, but not all of them are experts on more esoteric skills like archery — hence the need to sometimes bring in volunteer teaching assistants.)

  21. I think it’s pretty obvious to anyone who doesn’t simply want to equivocate/split hairs that in order for discrimination against a homosexual to take place, the homosexual must be identified as such. BSA discriminates against boys who are gay. Is that simple enough for you, Throbert?

  22. BSA clearly discriminates against homosexuals…

    Let’s do a little Rusty routine:

    Louisville Metro Council can’t pay to keep a pool open late for the Boy Scouts because the organization’s stance on sexual orientation violates the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance, according to city officials.

    and

    The California Supreme Court Advisory Committee on The Code of Judicial Ethics has proposed to classify the Boy Scouts as practicing “invidious discrimination” against gays, which would end the group’s exemption to anti-discriminatory ethics rules and would prohibit judges from being affiliated with the group.

    and

    Walt Disney Co. said it will stop financial support for Boy Scouts-related organizations beginning next year because of the Scouts’ policy banning adult leaders who are gay.

    and

    Scout Pride: It is important to remember that the May 2013 resolution did NOT change the BSA’s position on LGBT persons. The BSA still considers LGBT persons to be immoral, unclean, irreverent, and incapable of being good citizens. The only change is that for those few units who have no problem with openly LGBT youth, they will be able to be open with who they are, until they turn 18 (or 21 for Venture Scouts). At which time the BSA will kick them out of the organization.

    and

    Scouts for Equality congratulates Hunter Faulhaber, the most recent openly gay youth to be awarded Eagle by the Boy Scouts of America.

    Hunter is a multi-sport athlete, plans on going to school to become a fashion designer, and is fighting for equality in Scouting as a member of Simon Kenton Scouts for Equality chapter. The BSA valued him as a youth member, however now that he’s 18 he runs the risk of having his membership revoked.

    Stand with Hunter and the 7,478 other Eagles in Scouts for Equality to help us change that. http://scoutsforequality.com/join

  23. I think it’s pretty obvious to anyone who doesn’t simply want to equivocate/split hairs that in order for discrimination against a homosexual to take place, the homosexual must be identified as such.

    “Identified as such” TO WHOM? Recent gay martyr Geoff McGrath may well be an excellent Scoutmaster, but he apparently made the choice to speak publicly about his status as America’s Only Openly Gay Scoutmaster to NBC News.

    Possibly NBC News contacted him first (i.e., he didn’t fax them a press-release), but he chose to not recuse himself from commenting in order to avoid dragging the BSA into an acrimonious political debate.

    Is that simple enough for you, Throbert?

    No, because “out” and “closeted” aren’t a simple binary, as most gay people understand perfectly well.

  24. You know, Ignatius, that the Boy Scouts are radically, fundamentally, malefic anti-atheist.

    They require their members to do their Duty to God. These cretans have denied Life Scout status to kids who deny God. They have expelled cute little 9 year old twins who defiantly refused to speak the name God when they recited the Cub Scout oath. (Which clearly was so basic to the twins that they were blind-sided that the whole “God” stuff was in play. Right?)

    What is abundantly clear is that the BSA is NOT inclusive of all manner and concepts of diversity. The don’t have a merit badge in cannibalism, for instance. Or pornography. Or genital mutilation. Or terrorism. So, perhaps you might direct us to the reasonable, common sense council on how to rebuild the BSA into a cutting edge inclusive and diverse 2014 group with certain little guardrails to keep out the stuff which offends, say, Ignatius.

    Then you can go to work on the Roman Catholic Church and rewire that ancient citadel of firm tenets and doctrine.

    Personally, I avoid the doctrinaire groups with which I do not agree. Anything involving Shari’a would be an example.

    All creed is dogma to those who object.

  25. I would add that in the South Park episode “Cripple Fight”, Big Gay Al at first goes to court over his right to be a scoutmaster in the “Mountain Scouts,” but ultimately has a change of heart:

    [Big Gay Al decides] he loves scouting too much to impose his will on them, and while they should be talked into changing their mind, he begs people not to cut their funding or support for the scouts — adding that as the Scouts are a private organization, he believes it is their libertarian right to form their own policies on homosexuality.

    This is not because Big Gay Al is self-loathing, but because he recognizes that the Mountain Scouts exists for the benefit of BOYS, and not as a podium to validate the self-worth of adult gay men.

    For those who aren’t South Park fans, I would also point out that the series has three major gay male characters:

    Big Gay Al, who’s flamboyant but always an honorable Mensch and an asset to the town
    Satan, who’s… well, he’s Satan
    Mr. Garrison, who’s much worse than Satan

    (There’s also the minor character of “Mr. Slave,” who makes moral progress during the series when he stops being influenced by Mr. Garrison and is mentored by Big Gay Al)

  26. I think it’s pretty obvious to anyone who doesn’t simply want to equivocate/split hairs…

    I think it’s pretty obvious to anyone that the author of the highlighted passage likes to play “little contrarian prick”, by his own admission (“I’m apparently the lone right-leaning dissenter here”) and dismiss important and substantive distinctions like the ones that Throbert highlighted as “splitting hairs”.
    The commenter was on the right track when he asked “Why not simply start one’s own scouting association, one that allows homosexual scouts?”.
    The answer is simple: the Left doesn’t create a ucfking thing. It co-opts, erodes and ultimately destroys (or attempts to destroy) the good things that others create (BSA, marriage, churches).
    Name a civic, social, religious or family oriented organization of long standing (50 years plus) that the Left has created which has a prominent and productive place in this society.
    I can’t come up with one.

  27. No, because “out” and “closeted” aren’t a simple binary, as most gay people understand perfectly well.

    I’m sorry, were we discussing BSA policy or your interpretation of the word ‘closeted’?

    You know, Ignatius, that the Boy Scouts are radically, fundamentally, malefic anti-atheist.

    The BSA is a religious organization. And?

  28. Thank you, Mr. McGee, for finally bringing this tempest in a tea-pot to daylight.

    Brother Geoff McGrath had the choice of being the Scout Master or the Gay Scout Master. As I understand it, he was openly gay and his church sponsors and his troop accepted that he was openly gay.

    The openly gay qualifier became attached to his status of Scout Master and that complicated his role. He was “fired” and his church sponsors decided to stand up for him. That meant that having a Gay Scout Master was more important to the church than having sponsorship of a BSA troop.

    There are all sorts of big-boy pants being brought out in this melodrama. It is instructive, in a curious parallel, that the GSA has dropped all of its LGBT burrs and become all puppy warm. But, then, the GSA is locked into cookies and nothing else whatsoever that I can recall. (Is there GSA Pullet Scout?)

    Would the BSA National Jamboree be better served if it had a special compound for gay scouts who would feel more in touch by being with their own community? How about some good old BSA counseling on coming out? For a long time on this site, we heard about gay teens committing suicide and suffering terrible trauma. Shouldn’t the BSA be totally prepared to help an emerging gay atheist deal with his strict Islamic family?

    What the heck do the great manipulators of all that is good and necessary use for guidelines as to what demons they choose to fight?

  29. The BSA is a religious organization. And?

    They discriminate against atheists.

    They are not inclusive when it come to atheism.

    They are bigots.

    Just because that is not the dog you choose to champion, does not mean it is not in the fight.

  31. This is not because Big Gay Al is self-loathing, but because he recognizes that the Mountain Scouts exists for the benefit of BOYS, and not as a podium to validate the self-worth of adult gay men.

    This is the primary motivation for these pathetic SOBs: forcing others to validate their sad and sorry existences.
    That’s a pretty twisted philosophy to use in guiding a person’s life.

  32. Name a civic, social, religious or family oriented organization of long standing (50 years plus) that the Left has created which has a prominent and productive place in this society.

    Easy.

    ACORN MSNBC ACLU CAIR NAMBLA Ruckus Society La Raza NAACP SEIU IWW Southern Poverty Law Center Young Pioneers

  33. Name a civic, social, religious or family oriented organization of long standing (50 years plus) that the Left has created which has a prominent and productive place in this society.

    Just as a bit of CCCP-trivia and giving credit to the Left where it’s due:

    Despite the (often deservedly) shady reputation of Soviet psychiatry, the USSR was the first country in the world to ban lobotomies as a treatment for schizophrenia and other severe mental illnesses — in 1950, long before the practice fell into disrepute in the States. (Rosemary Kennedy underwent the procedure in 1941, and the “peak year” for US lobotomies was 1949.)

    Mostly, the Soviet ban was due to a one-man crusade by a Dr. Vasily Gilyarovsky, who believed that lobotomies were unacceptably risky even as a measure of last resort, and also had a high potential to be overused and abused out of economic expediency (as definitely occurred in the US).

    Plus, the Soviets did a great deal to promote general literacy, which probably had a disportional effect for women in Muslim-majority regions.

    Other than a couple successes like that, of course — not a very good track record on the Left.

  34. They discriminate against atheists.

    And? They also discriminate against girls. So?

    Just because that is not the dog you choose to champion…

    I don’t champion any ‘dog’ except freedom of association. You assume way too much.

    1. BSA’s policy is discriminatory re. gay boys. I think that’s perfectly fine.
    2. Amazon donates a percentage of purchase price to the charity of a customer’s choice. I think that’s perfectly fine.
    3. Amazon’s policy is that it will not support (through its Amazonsmile program) charities that discriminate based upon sexual orientation. I think that’s perfectly fine.
    4. Amazon is including (supporting) BSA, in violation of stated policy. Is that fine with me? I don’t really care much but I don’t respect an organization that won’t practice what it preaches.
    5. A petition was initiated to address Amazon’s hypocrisy. I think that’s perfectly fine and (*gasp!*) logical, considering Amazon is being hypocritical. Stating that I understand the reason for the petition isn’t a statement of agreement with the petition, i.e. that I’m outraged, that I think Amazon or the BSA should be pressured to change, etc. But whether I agree with BSA, Amazon, or any other actor in this situation, the fact remains: Amazon isn’t abiding by its own policy.

  35. the fact remains: Amazon isn’t abiding by its own policy.

    Let us stipulate that you have adequately researched the AmazonSmile policy and your terse conclusion is dead right.

    Now, every crusader who wishes to hoist Amazon on its own petard needs to parse every single Amazon Smile beneficiary to be able to certify that each and every one is hypocrisy-free vis a vis official Amazon policy.

    In a perfect world, liberal, Progressive Jeff Bezos would have a permanent hypocrisy board matching his every move with what passes as policy. Hold him to account. It would, of course, be put in place at The Washington Post as well.

    AmazonSmile posts this boilerplate:

    Organizations must be public charitable organizations that are registered and in good standing with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) to be eligible to participate. Eligible charitable organizations must also be located in one of the 50 U.S. states or the District of Columbia. Organizations that engage in, support, encourage, or promote intolerance, hate, terrorism, violence, money laundering, or other illegal activities are not eligible to participate. Amazon relies on the U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Compliance and the Southern Poverty Law Center to determine which organizations fall into these groups. Charitable organizations must also adhere to the AmazonSmile Participation Agreement to maintain eligibility. Charitable organizations may choose not to participate in AmazonSmile at any time. Although we aim to include only charitable organizations that are in good standing and do not engage in any of the activities described above, we cannot guarantee the good standing and/or conduct of any charitable organization.

    Pardon me as I barf. Amazon relies on the U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Compliance and the Southern Poverty Law Center to determine which organizations fall into these groups.

    Apparently, the BSA runs afoul of “Organizations that engage in, support, encourage, or promote intolerance….”

    May we have a definitive definition of intolerance? Is it a tougher standard than “unacceptable”? Should any AmazonSmile money go to any Catholic affiliation since they oppose birth control, won’t permit priests to marry and do not tolerate Satan?

  37. Comment by heliotrope — April 25, 2014 @ 5:41 pm

    heliotrope:

    I was toying with the idea of explicitly stating that any examples of political would be invalid.
    It appears you understood that perfectly.

    And isn’t that all these batsh*t crazies do anyway? It’s politics 24/7 for these scumbags.

  38. JMan, your poet laureate status was fully renewed with “likes to play ‘little contrarian prick'” which sums up the entire piety dance. I wonder if one can tend to hemorrhoids, control his turrets outbursts and monitor for signs of hypocrisy simultaneously. I am still working on monitoring my own integrity.

  39. “Amazon relies on the U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Compliance and the Southern Poverty Law Center ”
    Missed that Amazon lets the HATE mongers at the SPLC tell them who to include. Even the FBI has finally seen through the SPLC.

  40. JMan, your poet laureate status was fully renewed…

    You mean to say that it had lapsed?
    I thought I was current with my dues. I never got any ‘demands for payment’.

    I am still working on monitoring my own integrity.

    I’ve got mine scheduled for it’s annual tune-up at a great place I found on Angie’s List a few years ago.
    They do a 50-point principles & morals checkup and there’s free coffee and donuts.

  42. Amazon is not doing itself any favors by relying on a group that has been blacklisted by the FBI. The SPLC has been officially removed from the FBI’s resources for information on hate groups.

    I’ve been using Amazon over the past few years to purchase textbooks for school; 40%+ savings on college textbooks is a godsend. But after this nonsense, I think I need to find a new site. Anybody have any suggestions.

  44. “I’ve been using Amazon over the past few years…[b]ut after this nonsense, I think I have to find a new site.” Me too, Sean. Trouble is, I don’t know of any other options that come close to Amazon’s massive inventory and easy-on-the-wallet prices. Maybe this could jump start some whiz kid entrepreneur to create the rightist alternative we need. I hope so because it’s excruciatingly embarrassing to see how we on the right have let the left dominate ALL the major “transmitters of culture”.

  45. If the GLBT community is going to continue being enemies of America, then maybe they need to be treated like The Enemy. I have long supported GLBT issues, including gay marriage, and have a number of close GLBT friends. This is not about how you play with your plumbing, or who you marry, or how you relate to your gender.

    It is about the Gay Mafia’s vicious, hateful, intolerant, hypocritical attacks on anyone who doesn’t toe their political line. It is about their Totalitarian Liberalism. Liberalism is a cult of hate and violence, and they are among the biggest haters. Not everyone gay, but the activist community. But the rank and file apparently support that, so maybe they are just as bad.

    It’s not that they are gay. It is that they are damned Liberal scum.

  46. 41.Here and I thought that the reason the BSA didn’t allow gay Scoutmasters was the pedophilia liability problem

    That’s really not the major issue, because the BSA leadership understands perfectly well that “stealth pedos” are far more dangerous than openly gay men (again, the South Park episode “Cripple Fight” made this point more hilariously than I can).

    So, the BSA has had long-standing policies in place to protect boys from “stealth pedos”, whether they’re openly gay or masquerading as respectable straight churchgoers.

    The real issue, in my opinion, is that certain gay activists would love to use the BSA as a podium for the self-validation of adult f*ggots, and would also love to use “suicidal at-risk LGBT youth” as human shields in their political proxy war. The BSA understands this as well as I do.

  47. Ignatius writes:

    BSA’s policy is discriminatory re. gay boys.

    As you know perfectly well, Ignatius, the BSA has recently stopped its formal discrimination against gay boys (and there’s good evidence that for the most part, they stopped discriminating against gay teenage Boy Scouts a long time ago, though it wasn’t official).

    [putting on the special sunglasses that Rowdy Roddy Piper forced me to wear after a ludicrously drawn-out fist fight]

    Hmmm… ya know, Ignatius, I can see clearly now (the rain has gone!) — and I now suspect that you are NOT an honorable center-right homosexual dissident like V the K, but are in actual, literal fact bug-eyed skull-faced aliens from another planet.

    Or, possibly, you are a homegrown mutant CHUD-f*ggot.

    Either way, skátertju dorógu with you! Go back to whatever planet or sewer you came from, and stop pretending to be a normal homosexual human being.

    P.S. “Skátertju dorógu”, literally “the road shall be a smooth tablecloth”, was a traditional Russian blessing to departing travelers, akin to “may the wind be always at your back.” Nowadays, however, it’s pretty much always used sarcastically, in the sense of “Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.”