July 4, 2001

Medal of Honor recipients and Boy Scouts

Though a Korean veteran, I joined the American Legion only comparatively recently. After checking out the July Legion magazine, I'm having serious second thoughts about that membership.

Does a one-sided article defending bigotry by the adult leadership of the Boy Scouts really belong in a magazine presumably devoted to the interests of ALL veterans, including those rational, intelligent ones who view life from the middle of the political spectrum?

I find it ironic, and terribly funny, to be advised on morality by a man like Ed Meese, Reagan's Attorney General, who wrote the article in question. That's a little too much like being advised on monogamy by Elizabeth Taylor. The Boy Scouts, Mr. Meese (and Miss Taylor, for that matter) have a right to their opinions. However, I do object to the Boy Scouts using public facilities and subsidies from taxpayers like me to spread the message that those patriotic American citizens born with a homosexual orientation are to be shunned, denigrated and treated as we used to treat lepers. If members of private organizations wish to scorn, snub, degrade, or vilify their fellow Americans of a different sexual orientation, those scorned should at least not be required to contribute tax funds to finance their own humiliation.

I certainly don't grant Mr. Joseph Caouette (American Legion "Americanism" chairman) the right to judge my "Americanism", or that of the American Civil Liberties Union, because I don't happen to march in lockstep with his perverted view of "family values." He's not the role model I'd choose for my future grandchildren.

If there had been counterbalancing articles in the July magazine (or even a promise of such articles for future issues) giving the view from the other side, it would be ok. To be fair, both sides need to be represented. As a former Boy Scout and a confirmed heterosexual, I'm ashamed I took discrimination against gays so much for granted for so many years. I didn't know any better. Patriotic veterans of past wars come from all parts of the political and sexual landscape. In World War II, when Blacks were stigmatized and not allowed to fully participate, many did their best anyway, and many were heroes.

Homosexuals had the advantage over Blacks. They could more easily avoid recognition. It's highly likely the percentage of Congressional Medal of Honor recipients in WWII, Korea and Vietnam who were gay matched their percentage in the male population. Which Medal of Honor winners would you forbid to be a role model for Boy Scouts? It would make an interesting subject for a doctoral thesis.

The American Legion was chartered by Congress, and is thus a quasi-public organization which owes a duty to be even-handed in its approach. Or perhaps it's time the Legion gave up its national charter.

Some Legionnaires in 1944 urged the army be given control of internment camps where thousands of American children of Japanese ancestry were jailed for the crime of being the same race as their grandparents. By 1944 the older brothers of those kids had covered themselves with glory fighting for the U.S.A. Evidently those Legionnaires believed life in tarpaper shacks behind barbed wire and guards with live ammunition in desolate, windswept, remote regions of the U.S. was not sufficient punishment. It's more shameful the American Legion today, which wishes to be known for its patriotism, should publish such articles as Meese's. Perhaps the next issue of the magazine will urge Japanese-Americans be returned to Manzanar or Tule Lake.

The Reactor, a column of opinion, has appeared in the Pacifica Tribune since 1975. Paul Azevedo's e mail address is thereactor@earthlink.net