Phil Brennan
Thursday, June 21, 2001

The latest outrage is a proposal due to be voted on at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) now taking place in Chicago.

A member from Rhode Island has proposed that the AMA take a stand against national youth groups that ban homosexuals from membership, without naming the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) as his target. He admits, however, that he knows of no other youth group that fits that description.

Incredibly, the Associated Press reported that the proposal drew hardly a negative reaction when it was introduced.

It's really a health issue, supporters explain: Banning homosexual youths from the BSA could drive them to suicide, so to keep gay kids from offing themselves you have to admit them to membership. I'm not kidding – that's the gist of what they say.

This comes on the heels of another proposal, pushed by the AMA's president-elect, Richard F. Corlin, that would have the AMA call for increased funding to study data on firearms injuries. The ploy, Second Amendment advocates warn, puts the national medical association squarely on the side of anti-gun radicals.

"We don't have that kind of information about gun injuries. It makes it difficult to develop policies," said Robert Seltzer, executive director of New York-based Doctors Against Handgun Injury, a consortium of medical groups. "If we knew more about the relationship between the victim and the suspect, we could develop policing strategies."

He doesn't explain exactly what the AMA, an organization of doctors, is doing getting involved in the development of "policing strategies." Are they swapping their stethoscopes for badges?

The proposal drew the ire of Dr. Michael Brown, a Vancouver, Wash., optometrist and a member of Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws. "There is so much potential for misusing the data for political purposes. We have very little faith they would deal with it honestly," Brown told a Chicago magazine, adding that he views the issue as a city vs. country fight. "The doctors that go into medical politics like this are almost always the urban liberal-type folks."

"They are not scientists; these are social planners," says John A. Bennett, an AMA member and a member of Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws, referring to the doctors who undertake research on firearms issues.

Those social planners have been active in medical circles for a long time. In December 1973, for example, the American Psychiatric Association decided that homosexuality is ... well ... normal.

To be considered abnormal, the APA says, homosexuality would have to be capable of causing emotional distress, and gays are ... gay, aren't they?

That flies in the face of the claims of homosexual activists who say that the worst thing about being homosexual is the feelings of guilt – feelings they hasten to say are inflicted on them by religion, and not by their rather disgusting sexual behavior.

Knowledge of where that behavior leads homosexuals is at the root of the BSA's ban on homosexual Scout leaders. The Rev. Louis Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition explains the BSA's reasoning:

"The national leadership of the Boy Scouts is determined to protect boys from bad role models and from North American Man-Boy Love Association ([NAMBLA] same-sex child molesters. A quick search of Nexis [an online database] shows why the Scouts want to keep homosexuals from its ranks. Men with same-sex attractions who are closeted in the Scouts frequently act out their sexual desires by molesting boys. Here are just a few recent examples:

* In April, a Canadian Scout leader was charged with sexual touching and sexual exploitation for molesting two boys under his care. This homosexual offered alcohol, X-rated videos and condoms to the boys.

* In February, John Levendosky, a former assistant Boy Scout leader in Pennsylvania, was charged with endangering the welfare of children and charged with assault for tying two boys to a tree and cutting them. Police found pornographic bondage magazines and sadomasochistic paraphernalia in his home.

* In January, William Elliott, a New York Scout leader, was charged on 20 counts of molesting four boys.

* In April, Keith Crumpton, a Mississippi Scout leader, faced five counts of fondling a minor and traveling across state lines to have sex with a boy. He molested three young boys.

* In April, an Annapolis Scout leader was arrested for sexually abusing a 13-year-old Scout under his supervision. Homosexual Matthew Showalter faces 20 years in prison if convicted.

"The list goes on, but the point should be clear: Men with a "sexual orientation" toward other males - little boys, teen-agers, or men - are quite likely to act out their sexual desires when given the chance. These cases demonstrate that there are already NAMBLA homosexuals hiding out in the Boy Scouts of America organization. We should not open the doors to more of them. The ones who are caught are doing immense emotional and physical damage to boys. The Scouts' leadership is correct to prohibit openly practicing homosexuals from becoming leaders or members."

Are your listening, AMA?

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