Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Girl Scouts file trademark lawsuit as Boy Scouts plan to rename to Scouts BSA

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 214 posts

Re: Girl Scouts file trademark lawsuit as Boy Scouts plan to rename to Scouts BSA

#201

Post by Kye »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #144
russellbeattie wrote: post #112

Boy Scouts of America is a discriminatory religious organization with a ridiculously long record of exclusionary policies [1]. They don't "welcome" gay scouts, but permit them. Atheists still aren't allowed to be scout leaders. As a parent I refused to let my son have anything to do with them. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America_member...

As is every club with any kind of charter. The DAR; the sports teams at my local high school; heck even girl's schools like Wellsley. And the religious component is contained in "adherence to spiritual principles, loyalty to the religion that expresses them and acceptance of the duties resulting therefrom" Its about teaching young people to respect spirituality, to accept loyalty in Scouts to their own faith. I can't…

>> "Perhaps an Atheist, dogmatically demanding that we all give up faith, could see harm?"

You've confused atheist with antitheist. The former is a personal lens on the world. The latter is an ideology. I look up at the stars and see balls of incandescent gas and an indifferent cosmos, but that doesn't mean I berate the witches I know for finding significance in their alignment.

Re: Girl Scouts file trademark lawsuit as Boy Scouts plan to rename to Scouts BSA

#202

Post by makewavesnotwar »

randyrand wrote: post #42
makewavesnotwar wrote: post #36

Nothing about the Boy Scouts is really gender specific, beyond their requirement to be male that's set to be amended in February. I don't understand how "Scouts BSA" is a violation of any trademarks that the Girl Scouts might hold. Especially considering the Girl Scouts came after BSA had already been established. If anything I would say that Girl Scouts are encroaching on the BSA's brand identity by calling themselv…

I don't have a strong opinion either way (I'm an Eagle Scout), but the decision to include girls will fundamentally change Scouting. Guys act differently when around girls. Girls act differently when around guys. This is doubly true for ages 12-17. Whether this is a change for the better or worse is subjective but there is no doubt it is a drastic change. There is benefit to boys interacting with girls. There is bene…

I'm an Eagle Scout too and I guess I don't really have a strong opinion because scouting here in CO is fundamentally different in my eyes than what I grew up with in CA.

In my troop, once a year we'd spend one weekend spreading flyers about our annual garage sale, over the following week we'd pick stuff up, then the next weekend we'd use the community clubhouse that was our home-base for meetings for a blow-out garage sale.

We'd clear $15-20k in a week, give everyone who donated a tax slip for their donation, and sit pretty for the rest of the year with regard to our outings. Plus we'd do a clearinghouse in the last few hours of the sale where you could fill a trashbag up with anything and pay $5 for it. (I got stuff like suits, laser prints and antique cameras for These massive fund-raisers are why we could finance trips to places like Hawaii or Scotland every few years and had outings like going to Camp Pendleton for paintball wars, plus we were helping the community by moving their junk.

Here in CO, the Boy Scouts do the door-to-door sales thing with over-priced caramel corn and the like.

I'd rather just give the troop $20 than spend $10 on a little bag of popcorn. Maybe that's part of the GS issue, a lot of Boy Scout troops are basically just copying the Girl Scouts' business model.

But I guess what I'm saying is, there are a lot of factors that go into your fundamental scouting experience (I honestly give all credit to the crazy outdoor dads that were in my troop at the time), so I'm trying to observe this transition more than question/judge it.

I can't think of any good reason why the Scout Law shouldn't be ubiquitous in American society.

Re: Girl Scouts file trademark lawsuit as Boy Scouts plan to rename to Scouts BSA

#203

Post by lovich »

grigjd3 wrote: post #173
russellbeattie wrote: post #112

Boy Scouts of America is a discriminatory religious organization with a ridiculously long record of exclusionary policies [1]. They don't "welcome" gay scouts, but permit them. Atheists still aren't allowed to be scout leaders. As a parent I refused to let my son have anything to do with them. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America_member...

You're aware that they now allow gay members and leaders and that the atheism thing is on it's way out, right? I'm an atheist eagle scout. I'll grant you that it has been tough to get these changes in, but they are clearly happening.

I was told that I would be allowed to stay part of the troop but would not be able to advance on rank any further due to being an athiest, and the people who made that decision are still involved with the organization.

Parts of the boy scouts may have moved on, but it is by no means an official change

Re: Girl Scouts file trademark lawsuit as Boy Scouts plan to rename to Scouts BSA

#204

Post by lovich »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #153
endymi0n wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So which faith should I be loyal to please if I have none? And which universal „spiritual principles“ exist in the world that I could adhere to, except for „whatever my religious leader says“ (of which I don‘t have any)? There‘s simply no logic in these sentences, which points back again to the boy scouts being a de facto religious organization.

Most young people do grow up in some spiritual environment, at least in America. And all Scouts are required to respect others' faith. I call straw man - what specific problem is being referred to? An imaginary youth raised in a cave?

Citation please. America has very diverse pockets. There's places where the average person wouldn't dream of missing church weekly, and there's others where people have never seen the inside of one.

Stating that "most young people" grow up in a spiritual environment means that a kid who isn't spiritual must have been raised in a cave is disengenous

Re: Girl Scouts file trademark lawsuit as Boy Scouts plan to rename to Scouts BSA

#206

Post by Bjartr »

russellbeattie wrote: post #112

Boy Scouts of America is a discriminatory religious organization with a ridiculously long record of exclusionary policies [1]. They don't "welcome" gay scouts, but permit them. Atheists still aren't allowed to be scout leaders. As a parent I refused to let my son have anything to do with them. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America_member...

As an Eagle Scout I'll say that I'm not a huge fan of the BSA organization, but wholeheartedly support local troops. Not every troop is good, to be sure, but I don't think dismissing the whole of Boy Scouts is appropriate.

Re: Girl Scouts file trademark lawsuit as Boy Scouts plan to rename to Scouts BSA

#207

Post by paulddraper »

russellbeattie wrote: post #112

Boy Scouts of America is a discriminatory religious organization with a ridiculously long record of exclusionary policies [1]. They don't "welcome" gay scouts, but permit them. Atheists still aren't allowed to be scout leaders. As a parent I refused to let my son have anything to do with them. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America_member...

> They don't "welcome" gay scouts, but permit them.

This information is outdated.

They had "don't ask, don't tell" for a very long time.

But they've had openly gay Scouts since 2014 and openly gay leaders since 2015.

Re: Girl Scouts file trademark lawsuit as Boy Scouts plan to rename to Scouts BSA

#208

Post by jrnichols »

VLM wrote: post #145
fusiongyro wrote: post #79

I feel like I always hear about girl scout fundraising (not just the cookies) but never about girl scouting. In contrast, I hear a lot about camping and whatnot with the boy scouts, yet they never seem to be in my face raising money. What's all that girl scout money going towards? More fundraising?

Parent of both, some anecdotes and generalities follow. Girl scouting is indoors and out of sight, Boy scouting is outdoors and in view. Therefore you will see a lot more "boy activity". They spend a similar amount of time. For whatever weird traditional reason its assumed the boys families will pay maybe a hundred per year for boy scouting stuff, and girls do not pay or only pay a symbolic tiny amount of money. WRT…

> Why aren't girl scout activities as cool as boy scout activities? I honestly do not know.

You're right. A Boy Scout camp I worked at was trying to get Girl Scout groups to come use the facilities, but parents resisted because the facility had a shooting range. They said that they didn't want the Girl Scouts involved in or exposed to "violent activities" and they wouldn't come unless the shooting range was removed. Other parents felt that the majority of the outdoor activities were too dangerous.

There was one group that wanted to use the shooting range, though, and despite freezing rainy weather, the girls (and parents) came out anyway. That was great to see.

There's not much stopping the Girl Scouts from adding the other activities except for the female leadership themselves.

I'd love to see more cross-organization Merit Badges.

Re: Girl Scouts file trademark lawsuit as Boy Scouts plan to rename to Scouts BSA

#209

Post by ct520 »

qwertay wrote: post #38
ct520 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe he was being serious. Techy crowd never stops surprising me

You can be serious while also being disrespectful.

People can be a lot of things, not sure where you’re going here. You yourself interpreted something different from me myself and I. Possibly possible.

Re: Girl Scouts file trademark lawsuit as Boy Scouts plan to rename to Scouts BSA

#210

Post by boyce »

russellbeattie wrote: post #112

Boy Scouts of America is a discriminatory religious organization with a ridiculously long record of exclusionary policies [1]. They don't "welcome" gay scouts, but permit them. Atheists still aren't allowed to be scout leaders. As a parent I refused to let my son have anything to do with them. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America_member...

That's odd to read. The scouts are very different in the UK. They have an explicit "Open to all" policy. I know several scout leaders who are gay, plenty who are women, and I believe they've removed the mention of god from the pledge.
Post reply on HN