I found Mr. Fellows' posting most offensive.  Ned Heite , however, raises an
interesting question.
Can archaeologists and archaeological institutions simply withdraw support
or participation in Boy Scout merit badge programs? I don't think so.   I
work for a public institution that is committed to serving multiple publics
without prejudice.  That includes serving private individuals and
organizations--like the Boy Scouts--whose policies I may disagree with or
think wrong.  That's a price of freedom I am (swallowing hard) prepared to
pay.  The leadership of the Boy Scouts is, it seems, now beginning to
understand the cost of  insistence on exercising the freedom, as a private
organization,  to discriminate against gays.  As a private organization, it
is appropriate that the Boy Scouts should lose the support of tax dollars.
It is not clear,  however, that they can be excluded from services an
institution like the one I work for provides, such as participation in
public archaeology programs and work toward merit badges.  We offer those
services to the public and have among our constituents fundamentalist
home-schoolers, all-white church groups, all-black church groups, and so on.
We never question their ideologies, governing charters, or membership
policies.  I don't believe we should.  There are other ways to challenge
homophobia and discrimination than to pick and choose among the publics we
serve, thereby risking our own inclusiveness, to say nothing of risking
litigation.

Kirsti Uunila
Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory
Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum
St Leonard MD 20685
[log in to unmask]

----- Original Message -----
From: Ned Heite <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]
Sent: Sunday, October 15, 2000 9:57 AM
Subject: Boy Scouts


> An archaeology list is no place for diatribes about sexual orientation,
but
> it is an appropriate place to discuss the role of our profession in
> education.
>
> Personally, I believe there is no way to support that organizaton, as long
> as it maintains a policy of bigotry and ignorance. Scout policy sends a
> dangerous message to youth, incompatible with civilized behavior.
>
> It would be totally appropriate for archaeologists (an archaeological
> organizations) to withdraw support from Boy Scout merit badges until that
> organization stops espousing bigotry against a largely innocent segment of
> the population.
>
>
>
>                Ned Heite  ([log in to unmask])
> *****************************************
> *   Nothing warms a chilly fall morning *
> *   like a steaming compost.            *
> *****************************************