Shenandoah Valley Friends
Reprinted from: 
Tuesday, March 3, 1998; Page A09
Court Rejects Boy Scouts' Ban on Gays
Associated Press
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| The GLAAD Alert features additional media reports about James Dale's court victory. (Photo by The Washington Blade) |
The court said today that the Scouts' decision to kick James Dale out because he is gay should be overturned. An attorney for Dale said this is the first time any appeals court has ruled against the Boy Scouts in challenges to their exclusion of homosexuals. A spokesman for the Boy Scouts said the decision will be appealed.
Dale, 27, earned 30 merit badges, seven achievement honors and other awards, and was an Eagle Scout during his 12 years in the organization. He last served as an assistant scoutmaster.
He was expelled by the Monmouth Council of the Boy Scouts in 1990 after the group learned in the newspaper that he was gay. He sued and a lower court judge ruled in the Scouts' favor in 1995, calling homosexuality "a serious moral wrong" and agreeing with the Boy Scouts of America that the group is a private organization and has a constitutional right to decide who can belong.
The Appellate Division of State Superior Court overruled that decision today, saying the Boy Scouts of America and its local councils are "places of accommodation" that "emphasize open membership" and must adhere to New Jersey's anti-discrimination law.
"There is absolutely no evidence before us, empirical or otherwise, supporting a conclusion that a gay scoutmaster, solely because he is a homosexual, does not possess the strength of character necessary to properly care for, or to impart BSA humanitarian ideals to the young boys in his charge," the decision read.
All three members of the appellate panel agreed that Dale should be restored as a member of the Boy Scouts. One judge, however, disagreed that the Boy Scouts should be forced to reinstate Dale to a leadership position.
Boy Scouts spokesman Gregg Shields said an appeal will be filed at the state supreme court.
"The Boy Scouts of America has a right as a voluntary association, to teach youth the traditional values that it has taught since 1910, and to establish membership and leadership standards," said Shields. "The Boy Scouts of America is not a public accommodation. It's a voluntary association, and anyone who agrees with our principles is welcome to join."
Shields said the scouts "have long taught traditional family values, and a homosexual is simply not a role model for those values."
Dale, who works in New York for a publishing company, said he was elated by the decision.
Last May, a federal court in San Diego ruled the Scouts is not a business and does not have to give a leadership post back to a gay police officer who was forced out.
And last month, Chicago settled a lawsuit by agreeing to sever its ties to scouting programs until the group accepts homosexuals and stops requiring a religious oath.
Copyright � 1998 The Associated Press and The Washington Post, Inc.
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