One thing that is almost always lost in these issues is the story of what actually happened and how it impacted the lives of those involved. Thank you for bringing that to our attention.
As all of you have already heard far too many times, I am retired military so that is where I draw this bit of wisdom. But even in management issues in the civilian world, the Golden Rule is to
resolve all problems at the lowest level possible. Failure to do so just results in far more trouble and turmoil for everybody as well as resulting in consequences that nobody can be happy with. But when one party adamantly refuses to allow any kind of resolution or to even agree to any kind of discussion (which could itself be a form of resolution), then that leaves the other party (most commonly the aggrieved party) to other recourse but to push it up the chain -- though as described that was not the intent of the aggrieved here. The thing is that once an official complaint is filed, then there is a legal obligation to resolve it and it's then out of the hands of the original parties.
Around 1991, I was personally involved in such a situation with Boy Scouts of America. There are 9 points to the Scout Law, but Boy Scouts of America, Inc, added three more including "reverent". And on the basis of that (and other spurious ideas), they have been actively engaged in religious discrimination for decades, in almost all cases completely against the principles of Scouting. And including on-line spying against members resulting in their termination.
Please accept this disclaimer that all my information is from the 1990's. Despite requests for information about any official changes since then, I have received none.
For example, there are the Randall twins. They just wanted to be involved in Cub Scouting, like any other kid. But unlike most, they thought about what they were swearing oaths to. Outside of a confused phone message from a pack leader (volunteer), the first indication of any problem the parents received was the official notification of expulsion from the local Boy Scouts of America, Inc, council. All attempts to talk with them ended with a "so sue us". Which the father did and won. So pending the appeal to the state Supreme Court the Randall twins were allowed to continue to participate in the program. As their Eagle Courts loomed large, Republican politicians (eg, the state attorney general) pushed the case into the state Supreme Court who ruled that BSA did indeed discriminate on religious grounds, but as a private organization it was no subject to the law (ie, the Unruh Act).
Two boys who just wanted to be Scouts. Ironically, the Scoutmaster who worked with them the most described them as the best examples of Scouts that he had ever worked with. Please note that some boys who did make Eagle had committed vile acts of property vandalism such that the other boys in the troop (my own elder son included) were completely turned off to Scouting because of their selection to that position.
When my own sons became involved, I researched all the officially published rules and regulations and bylaws and advancement guidelines that BSA made available (which were very greatly restricted during the Randall trial -- BSA didn't want you to know what their rules actually were, did they?) I found that even as an atheist I met the requirements of BSA membership. But then the Randall issue hit the news and I was left not knowing what was going on. So I went to the scouting forum on CompuServe. Well, it turned out that BSA had a spy there who collected all messages posted by everybody, including by who was only trying to find out what was going on.
Similarly, there was one Scouter, Jewish, who had posted a message cheering the Randall twins on for "sticking to their guns." Two BSA professionals
in uniform (which says to me in "brown shirts") entered this Jewish individual's place of employment and started questioning him about his own personal religious beliefs, to which he replied that that was none of their damned business, whereupon they slapped him with his notice of expulsion. Sorry, but there's just something about that visual of two BSA brown-shirts assaulting a Jew in public.
In my own case, I was just trying to provide the Scouting program as BSA was expelling me. The officially recognized authority for whether I did my "duty to God" was my own minister. Twice in writing he certified that I do indeed do my "duty to God" in accordance with our religion (Unitarian-Universalism). Both times BSA chose to ignore him, as they ignored him each and every time I included his letters in the packages I submitted to them.
The point is that bigots are bigots. And even when they create rules to make themselves appear to be normal, they will still violate their own rules in order to continue to be bigots.
And normal people just want to live as normal people. And be treated as normal people. And when some bigots want to change that for not reason besides their own bigotry, then everybody should oppose them.
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