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PREJUDIC 5'?m2f Homosexuals vs Boy Scouts: A study in prejudice

(scene: six chairs side by side facing audience)

LIZ -- (enters, paces, looking at watch, sits)

AMY -- (enters opposite) Good morning. (shakes hands)

LIZ -- (stands) Oh, ah, hi. (shakes hands)

AMY -- What was so important that it couldn't wait for our lunch 
meeting?

LIZ -- Oh, ah,... Please, have a seat. (motions, sits)

AMY -- (sits) What's the matter? You look like you have to 
announce that my dog died.

LIZ -- Well, it's about that bad.

AMY -- Well, I've got broad shoulders. I can take it. 

LIZ -- My company has decided not to donate money to your 
organization this year.

AMY -- Your company? You act as if your company has made a 
decision without your knowledge. Aren't you the C.E.O. anymore?

LIZ -- Well, yes, I am... but.

AMY -- And you act as if MY organization isn't YOUR 
organization too. Are you pulling your son out of Boy Scouts?

LIZ -- Well, no.

AMY -- What's this all about? Why are you distancing yourself 
from your company and the Boy Scouts?

LIZ -- Because I didn't want this decision to seem personal. 

AMY -- Okay. I won't take it personally. But your company has 
been donating money to the Boy Scouts for ten years. What's the 
sudden... Say, is your company in financial trouble?

LIZ -- No, no, nothing like that. It's the public stance your 
organization has taken against homosexuals. 

AMY -- The Boy Scouts have excluded homosexuals from leadership 
since we were founded. Nothing has changed. What's going on here?

LIZ -- Well, I think that excluding homosexuals from leadership 
is prejudiced.

AMY -- Yes, I suppose it is. But are you aware that you are too?

LIZ -- Me?! How am I being prejudiced?

AMY -- Do you know what prejudice is?

LIZ -- Yes. It means to pre-judge someone, especially a 
minority. That's what you are doing to the homosexuals when you 
exclude them from leadership.

AMY -- Yes, I suppose you're right. In a sense you could say 
that homosexuals are a minority, since they make up only about 
one or two per cent of the population. But minorities are 
usually considered to be grouped based on characteristics over 
which they have no control, like skin color, age and sex. But 
the characteristic which sets homosexuals apart is their 
behavior, which is very controllable.

LIZ -- Listen, I don't want to judge anyone.

AMY -- But you did.

LIZ -- No, I didn't.

AMY -- You're as prejudiced as the Boy Scouts.

LIZ -- How can you say that?

AMY -- When you cancelled your donation to the Boy Scouts, you 
also discriminated against a relatively small group of citizens, 
namely young boys. But this group is a true minority. They have 
no control over their age or their sex.

LIZ -- I'm not discriminating against the boys, I'm 
discriminating against the organization which discriminates 
against homosexuals.

AMY -- You may be making a statement against the organization, 
but it's the boys you'll be hurting by withdrawing your support. 
Now do you see the prejudice?

LIZ -- Yes, I suppose it is prejudice, in a sense.

AMY -- Do you realize the implications of our respective 
prejudices?

LIZ -- I don't know what you mean.

AMY -- When the Boy Scouts reject homosexuals, we essentially 
reject the characteristics of the group. That is, we reject 
sex outside of marriage, we reject sex between people of the 
same sex, we reject sex with multiple partners and a 
disease-producing lifestyle.

LIZ -- Alright.

AMY -- When you reject the Boy Scouts, you essentially reject 
the characteristics of the group, an organization whose creed is 
to help other people at all times, to keep themselves physically 
strong, mentally awake and morally straight. Our guiding law is 
to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, 
obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. Our 
daily goal is to do a good turn to another person. As a group 
we have a long history of building strong, capable leaders 
with personal integrity and moral strength...

LIZ -- ...Alright! I see where you're going with this!

AMY -- Good. The question is not whether you're prejudiced, it's 
who you're prejudiced against. You're rejecting a moral 
organization in favor of one than promotes immorality. Is that 
the image you want your company to project?

LIZ -- Listen, it isn't as simple as that.

AMY -- It isn't?

LIZ -- No. The homosexuals have been threatening to picket in 
front of my building and pull the plug on some of my customers.

AMY -- (stands, backs away) Oh, well, if bottom line profit is 
involved, who am I to mention prejudice?

LIZ -- (stands) You make me sound like a money grubbing ogre. 
The homosexuals are very influential. 

AMY -- (backs away) Fortunately for future generations, so are 
the boys scouts.

LIZ -- Will I see you for lunch?

AMY -- Lunch? What is left to talk about at lunch?

LIZ -- I need help deciding who I'm going to be prejudiced 
against. (exits)

AMY -- See you at lunch. (exits)

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