Court Finds Boy Scouts Exempt From California Civil-Rights Law

The Boy Scouts of America does not have to abide by California’s civil-rights law, the state’s Supreme Court has ruled in two unanimous decisions.

The court found that the Boy Scouts is a private organization and therefore not bound by the law, which prohibits discrimination by business establishments.

The ruling came in cases challenging the Scouts’ policy of excluding homosexuals and those who question the existence of God.

Legal experts said the decision, while important for the group, which is battling similar challenges in numerous other cities and states, was not likely to open the door for many other organizations to claim exemptions from California’s civil-rights law.

Although the state’s highest court had previously determined that some private organizations — in one case a Boys Club and in another a country club — were business establishments because their facilities and programs were open to the public, it found that the Boy Scouts’ structure and mission made it an exception.

The Scouts’ “primary function is the inculcation of values in its youth members,” wrote Chief Justice Ronald M. George in the opinion.

Its facilities are not central to its function, the court added.

The first case was originally brought 17 years ago by an assistant Scoutmaster who was ejected from the Boy Scouts after they discovered that he was homosexual.

The other suit was filed in 1991 by twin brothers, then Cub Scouts, who refused to affirm the existence of God in the Boy Scouts’ oath.

Neither case will be appealed to the United States Supreme Court, since the ruling was based on state, not federal, law.

The narrow scope of the ruling also means it is unlikely to affect many other groups in the state, said Taylor Flynn, a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union, who represented the plaintiffs.

However, two of the justices noted in separate concurring opinions that the court should go further and overrule its previous decisions regarding the country club and the Boys Club by narrowing its definition of business establishments.

The California cases are among several discrimination suits that the Boy Scouts have been embroiled in over the last several years. In New Jersey, the Court of Appeals recently determined that the Boy Scouts could not bar gay people under the state’s public- accommodations law. The Boy Scouts are appealing that decision to the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Other challenges to the Scouts’ policy of excluding homosexuals are pending in Chicago and in Washington.

Ms. Flynn said that the A.C.L.U. in California may consider challenging the Boy Scouts’ policies on other grounds, including the First Amendment’s clause on the separation of church and state. Because some California municipalities allow their employees to participate in Boy Scouts programs, they may be in violation of that clause, she said.

“With the Supreme Court ruling that allows the Boy Scouts to claim they’re a religious organization, it’s particularly important for us to begin a dialogue with municipalities, and police and fire departments, and educate them that this is a violation of church and state.”

In the meantime, opponents of the Boy Scouts’ exclusionary policies say they hope that the California decision will prompt businesses and individuals to stop supporting the organization.

“There will be efforts made to appeal to financial donors,” said James G. Randall, the father of the two boys who sued the Boy Scouts.

The brouhaha has already cost the Boy Scouts a few supporters in California. Several years ago, Levi Strauss and the United Way of San Francisco withdrew their support because of the Scouts’ anti-homosexual policy. The City of Berkeley refused to let a Scout Explorer troop use city-owned ships and docking facilities because of the same policy.

“We believe there is an increasing awareness that Boy Scouts do discriminate,” Ms. Flynn said.

But Gregg Shields, a national spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America, said boycott efforts have had little influence on the organization.

He declined to say how much the group has lost in support. But, he added, “In almost every case, that funding has been replaced by donations from individuals who support our positions.”

What’s more, he said, membership is going up. The organization has seen a 4-per-cent increase over the last two years.

“No one is forced to be a Boy Scout,” Mr. Shields said. “Our members join voluntarily, in agreement with the principles and standards of the organization.”