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Merck Foundation becomes latest to suspend funding to Boy Scouts due to their anti-gay policies
December 10, 2012
By Scottie Thomaston
The Merck Foundation (a charitable foundation set up by health care supplier Merck) has announced that it is suspending its funding to the Boy Scouts due to their policy of banning gay scouts as well as gay scout leaders. Merck’s website says:
Merck Foundation has suspended all funding to the Boys Scouts of America (BSA). The Merck Foundation will consider funding the BSA again when the organization’s inclusion criteria has been expanded.The BSA’s policy of exclusion based on sexual orientation directly conflicts with the Merck Foundation’s giving guidelines. The Foundation re-evaluated funding for the BSA when the organization restated its policy that excludes members on the basis of sexual orientation. Merck Foundation has notified the BSA of this decision.
As part of the broader review of funding decisions in 2013, the Foundation is currently assessing all current and future funding commitments to ensure that it is not funding organizations with policies contrary to its own.
GLAAD has more, noting that Merck is the latest in a string of companies opposed to the Boy Scouts’ gay ban. Intel, UPS, and others have declined to continue funding the Boy Scouts and called for an end to their ban on gay scouts and leaders.
A letter from the Merck Foundation is here.
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13 Comments Leave a Comment
1.
Gregory in SLC | December 10, 2012 at 2:24 pm
OT, but got me annoyed… the LDS, Mormon church launched a new website:
http://www.mormonsandgays.org/
Where the Church stands:
The experience of same-sex attraction is a complex reality for many people. The attraction itself is not a sin, but acting on it is. Even though individuals do not choose to have such attractions, they do choose how to respond to them. With love and understanding, the Church reaches out to all God’s children, including our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.
2.
Jamie | December 10, 2012 at 2:31 pm
This is great to see, but frankly, it should have been done years ago.
3.
Gregory in SLC | December 10, 2012 at 2:37 pm
may mention, some say Mormon church #1 sponsor of Boy Scouts of America
4.
Bob | December 10, 2012 at 2:40 pm
standing with you Gregory,,,,,, same religious stance in my church or origin,,,, it's interesting when you look back,,, it was 1967 when inter racial marriages where legalized in the u.s. that's not long back,,, and the religious right viewed this as morally wrong,,, saying God decreed the races should never mix,,,, look where we are at now on that one,,,
eventually they'll have to accept,, the diversity of sexual orientation,,, and even inter sexed people,, read somewhere,, it just used to be assumed that you would make a choice for male or female, and operate to remove the other genitalia,, but more recently they are leaving it to persons to decide, and in adulthood some people are choosing to live as intersexed,,, and say the world just has to catch up to that reality,,, we are not created just male and female,, there are variations,,,
5.
Bob | December 10, 2012 at 2:44 pm
woot woot to Merck for doing the right thing,,, I've taken a lot of their drugs,, as an aids survivor
6.
Gregory in SLC | December 10, 2012 at 2:53 pm
Wow! Glad to hear it Bob! Now perhaps their stance will save more lives
7.
fiona64 | December 11, 2012 at 8:44 am
That website is the same old bigotry wrapped up in shiny new paper, as I comment on Religion Dispatches the other day. It cites the odious "God Loveth His Children" and points people toward NorthStar. IMO, it's PR flackery of the cheapest sort.
8.
Gregory in SLC | December 11, 2012 at 10:20 am
Just looked up HRC rating for Merck – 100% : ) to get a perfect score of 100 for the HRC Corporate Equality index 2013 need to include health care for Transgender. Hat's off to Merck! for doing this(page 88):
http://www.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/CEI_201…
9.
Bob | December 11, 2012 at 10:55 am
live discussion about Supreme Court,, and SSM
http://www.presstelegram.com/opinions/ci_22162697…
10.
Bob | December 11, 2012 at 11:00 am
http://americablog.com/2012/12/obama-prop-8-gay-m…
11.
ebohlman | December 11, 2012 at 3:42 pm
Please note that the Merck Foundation is independent of Merck as a corporation (it was set up by the family that started the corporation) and is not governed by the corporation's policies. I point this out because some researchers who have worked on studies that found no connection between vaccines and autism have been criticized because at one time or another in their lives they received educational grants from the foundation. But the corporation has no ability to select who the foundation will fund.
12.
Gregory in SLC | December 11, 2012 at 5:48 pm
INDEED – Well said friend and excellent author!
@ PR flackery of the cheapest sort.
13.
Mike in Baltimore | December 12, 2012 at 2:10 am
That would probably be similar to John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil, who if alive today would be joining the Koch brothers in tea party lunacy, gave many of his millions to found the Rockefeller Foundation, which has traditionally been one of the most liberal in philanthropy awards, and now has no ties with any of the 'descendants' of Standard Oil.
Or the Ford Foundation, founded by Edsall Ford and his father, Henry (who admired Hitler, and was a believer in the accuracy of the 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion' [proven to be an antisemitic hoax purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination first published in Russia in 1903; most likely the hoax perpetrated by, or on the orders of, the Tsar].) By 1947, the Foundation cut all ties to FoMoCo, and is now one of the leading philanthropic foundations in the world, especially in the areas of reducing poverty and injustice; promoting democratic values; and advancing human knowledge, creativity and achievement.
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