Commend UPS for Withdrawing Funding from the Boy Scouts over Anti-Gay Policy
BY EILEEN OLOUGHLIN
Target: UPS, Eduardo Martinez President of The UPS Foundation
Goal: Support UPS’s decision to withdraw funding from the Boy Scouts of America over the Boy Scouts’ anti-gay policies.
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) reports that UPS and The UPS Foundation will be withdrawing funding from the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) because of its continued anti-gay policies. Since reaffirming these policies in July of 2012, the BSA has lost funding from the Intel Foundation and now has lost the support and donations from UPS. Sign this petition and commend organizations such as Intel and UPS for upholding their nondiscriminatory policies and for refusing to provide funding for organizations that condone and follow discriminatory policies.
The Intel Foundation was once BSA’s largest corporate founder, giving $700,000 in donations to the BSA in 2010. The same year, UPS gave $150,000 to the BSA. Although both of these donors exercised anti-discriminatory policies within their own organizations, it took the media backlash following the BSA’s affirmation of its anti-gay policy in July of 2012 in order for Intel and UPS to withdraw grants and donations to the BSA. Zach Wahls, the founder of Scouts for Equality, stated in a press release following Intel’s decision to withdraw support, ‘Companies that support the LGBT community simply can’t be in the business of funding organizations that discriminate. Frankly, by sending this message, Intel is upholding the true spirit of Scouting better than the BSA is today,’ adding after UPS withdrew their support of the BSA that ‘UPS showed true bravery today… That bravery is what Scouting is all about.’
The BSA’s anti-gay policy has come under scrutiny in recent years from scouts and scout leaders who do not agree with the organization’s dated and prejudicial practices. Time and again, scout groups, scout leaders, and scouts have asked and petitioned the BSA to formally repeal these policies, and the BSA has refused. We can only hope that, partnered with the heroic efforts of organizations such as GLAAD and scouts like Zach Wahls, that Intel and UPS can help send a message to the BSA that these anti-gay policies are hurtful and destructive to the driving force behind the groups like the BSA, and must be repealed. Sign this petition and commend Intel and UPS for refusing to continue to provide funding to the BSA.
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