America is the land of the free. You are free to believe what you want, do what you want, and be who you want. Yet national organizations are free to discriminate against individuals they do not want as members, namely homosexuals. It should be illegal and unacceptable for organizations to discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation, and such blatant hatred should not be happening in society today.

            When the Boy Scouts of America was founded in 1910, gay rights were not even discussed in the United States. That was over a hundred years ago and society has progressed; however, the Boy Scouts continues to prohibit homosexuals from joining their organization. It is shocking that in 2013, organizations and individuals are allowed to discriminate against people because of sexual orientation.

In the 1910s African Americans were discriminated against as well, yet if the Boy Scouts or the US Armed Forces denied membership to African Americans today, there would be a national uproar. If society has learned not to treat people unfairly based on race, then society should be able to learn to not treat people unjustly based on sexual orientation.

And local scouts agree that everyone should be able to join Boy Scouts.

            “Whatever your sexual preference is, you should be able to have fun in Boy Scouts just like the rest of us,” Scott Kerchberger, junior and Eagle Scout, said.

            The Scouts is one of the largest youth organizations in the country, with 2.7 million members and more than 1 million adult volunteers, according to an article on ABC’s website. Yet for all the people it serves, a special committee of Scout executives and adult volunteers formed in 2010 concluded unanimously that the anti-gay policy was the “absolute best” for the 112-year-old organization, national spokesman Deron Smith, told The Associated Press.

            But it is not fair to just point out the BSA for bad decision making, in fact, the United States Armed forces just decided to repeal their “don’t ask don’t tell” policy last year. Until then the policy was discharging openly homosexual members, showing the government’s disapproval for openly homosexual men and women in the Army. It is obnoxious that this was just repealed and America accepted segregating people and not allowing them to join the United States armed forces. These men and women were ready to die for their country, yet their own country was discriminating against them because of their sexual orientation.

Since the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy last September, service members can be openly gay in the military, and LGBT members no longer have to keep their sexual orientation secret or face discharge.

            Gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members are thought to make up at least 2 percent of the military’s 2.2 million forces on active duty and in the reserves and National Guard, according to an article on the New York Time’s website.

But both gay and straight service members say that ending the legal barriers has hardly erased all the cultural ones. While the repeal has gone better than many expected, harassment and discrimination against gays in the military has not disappeared.

            Although discrimination continues, this policy repeal is a step in the right direction, and the Boy Scouts should follow the lead allowing homosexuals to take part in their organization. Nobody deserves to be discriminated against in any way or for any reason, and it is a shame that this is even legal in America today.

            Discrimination may be an unfortunate part of our country’s past, but national organizations like the BSA should be at the forefront of changing our country’s future and uniting America, not dictating what people are allowed to do based on who the person is or on their sexual orientation.