August 26, 1999 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The Boy Scouts of America will appeal this month’s ruling by the Supreme Court of New Jersey, which held that the charity violated the state’s antidiscrimination law when it expelled a homosexual Eagle Scout in 1990.
The Boy Scouts is also seeking to keep the ruling from taking effect until the appeal is resolved. The court had ordered the charity to immediately reinstate the Scout, James Dale, pending its appeal to the United States Supreme Court.
“We’re disappointed in the ruling, obviously, and we’re going to seek a review by the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Gregg Shields, the Boy Scouts’ national spokesman.
In a unanimous decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court rejected the Scouts’ argument that it is a private organization, and that its decision to expel Mr. Dale was protected by the First Amendment rights of freedom of association and freedom of expression.
Instead, the seven-member court found that the Boy Scouts is a “place of public accommodation” because, among other things, Congress had chartered the organization and government agencies such as police and fire departments routinely sponsor local troops.
The court also disagreed with the Boy Scouts’ contention that homosexuality is immoral and does not reflect the group’s ethical code, which requires Scouts to be “morally straight” and “clean.”
The New Jersey ruling is in contrast to a ruling last year (The Chronicle, April 9, 1998) by the California Supreme Court, which held that the Boy Scouts could expel homosexuals, agnostics, and atheists. That court determined that the Boy Scouts is a private organization not subject to California’s civil-rights laws.
Similar lawsuits are pending in several other states, and the continuing controversy over the Boy Scouts’ position on homosexuality may force the organization to take a closer look at the issue. At the group’s national meeting in May, a Scout council in Minnesota urged the executive board to establish a commission to examine current membership requirements, including those that form the basis for its policy of excluding homosexuals.
The fate of the request is uncertain. It is now being considered by a Scout committee that oversees the organization’s alliances with churches, civic groups, and other organizations that help run Scout programs. It could be passed on to the executive board for a vote, sent to another panel for review, or possibly even languish indefinitely.
Text of the New Jersey court decision can be found at this World-Wide Web site: http://lawlibrary.rutgers.edu/courts/supreme/a-195-97.opn.html.
