Fairness Beats the Boy Scouts in New Jersey
Dateline: 08/05/99
The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled on August 4, 1999, that the Boy Scout's ban on homosexuals is a violation of the New Jersey anti-discrimination law.
Plaintiff James Dale has been fighting this battle for almost ten years, a battle which started when his boy scout leaders discovered that Dale was gay.
The Court's ruling was based upon its belief that the Boy Scout organization is the legal equivalent of a "place of public accommodation" based, in part, on its business relationships with a multitude of public entities and public service organizations, along with the broad scope of its membership.
The Court found that there was no basis to allow the Scouts to continue their discriminatory practice under "free speech" (First Amendment) principles believing that to sanction this form of blatant discrimination was not the intent of the First Amendment.
A lower Court had upheld the Boy Scout ban ruling that homosexuality was a "moral wrong" and that the Boy Scouts, as a private organization, had a right to determine who can and cannot belong. However, the Supreme Court's ruling pierced the Scout claim of being a private organization with the public accommodation portion of the ruling.
An appellate decision last year took special care to note that Dale's years as a Scout constituted an "exemplary journey through the Boy Scouts of America ranks as testament enough that these stereotypical notions about homosexuals must be rejected."
The Boy Scouts do not only discriminate against homosexuals, atheists who cannot pledge to "honor G-d" are barred from the Scouts. Additionally there is an ongoing dispute between the Unitarian Church and Boy Scouts because of the accepting Unitarian Church stance on homosexuality. To that end the Boy Scouts have refused to issue Merit Badges for Religion to Unitarian Scouts.
The Supreme Court of New Jersey needs to be recognized for its courageous decision, which while it does not apply to any troop outside of the state of New Jersey sends a strong signal to other courts that it is time to end discrimination against gays and lesbians. You might recall that it was the Supreme Court of New Jersey which in another landmark decision ruled that a gay couple could co-adopt, rather than having to enter into the legal farce of "first you then me" adoption.
I don't know about you, but New Jersey is looking like a mighty fine place to which to move...
In Pride,
Deborah
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