Newtown, CT: An Addendum

As an addendum to my previous post about Emilie Parker, I wanted to mention that The United Way of Western Connecticut has created the Sandy Hook School Support Fund to provide support services to the families and community that has been affected. CNN has also posted a great article providing links to various resources for families, victims, and anyone who may have been affected by the tragedy.

Finally, Yahoo posted a really emotional article with background information on each of the victims of the shooting. Personally, I feel that it's "more" worth reading than the majority of the articles being posted on this tragedy simply because it focuses on the victims rather than the coward shooter.

I want to thank everyone who found my blog by searching for information on the shooting in Newtown, CT. My last blog post about Emilie received so many hits; I hope that I was able to generate some additional traffic for her memorial page, and that in doing so I have assisted her family in some way.

My heart truly aches for the children who will never return home to their families, and for the adults who courageously gave their lives trying to defend their students.

The Diversity of Brown

So, I found out on Monday that UPS plans to halt its donations to the Boy Scouts of America. The reason? They don't agree with the BSA's "anti-gay" policy. Apparently, a petition had a lot to do with Intel and UPS pulling their donations from the BSA. Still, it's a nice gesture. I can say that UPS is a very diverse company and that their corporate culture is very accepting, based on my own experiences.

I'm sure that people are going to have a fit over this, but just remember- you can't force people to agree with you. If these companies aren't supportive of your beliefs, then they are under no obligation to donate money to your organization.

I really wish that the BSA wouldn't exclude people based on their sexual preference. Really, it has nothing to do with being a "good person" or a "good role model." I find it ironic that so many people defended the BSA, stating that they were just trying to protect young boys from perverts. No offense, but y'all are doing a great job without recruiting "perverted" homosexuals.

Maybe someday the BSA will wake up and allow everyone to participate in their organization, regardless of their sexual orientation.

***Edit: After reading this post again, I realized that I wasn't very clear in my explanation. To be fair, UPS isn't specifically pulling their donations from the BSA. Rather, they have committed to only donating to organizations that share their core values, such as diversity. Since the BSA is homophobic, they will not be eligible to receive donations from UPS.