Although I am a firm supporter of equal rights for all, including homosexuals, I strongly believe that it would have been wrong for APO not to hold their Scout Day for political reasons. Scouts should not be denied educational op-portunities for a policy that they have no influence or control over.

Major League Baseball has a policy that prohibits dwarves from playing baseball at the professional level—due to the small strike zone. That, however, does not stop me from attending baseball games in the spring. The Professional Golf Association did not allow golf carts to be used by disabled players before the ruling by the Supreme Court on the Casey Martin case, but golf fans still watched and attended. U.S. airlines currently do not permit passengers to smoke cigarettes on flights, but that does not stop smokers from flying. Although many students at RPI likely are not in favor of affirmative action, that did not stop them from enrolling here.

National political squabbles should never be used as a pretext for restricting our entertainment, learning, expression, or convenience. Furthermore, it does a disservice to APO members who coordinated the scout day to criticize them for holding such an activity because of a Boy Scouts of America policy that is not directly related to the event’s purpose; they spent countless hours of hard work setting up and acquiring the grant needed for the Boy Scout Day.

A disagreement with the Boy Scouts of America’s policy on gay membership should be taken up with someone in their national office—not a campus service organization which was simply doing its job.