Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Boy Scout Ban on Gay Leaders

The Supreme Court on Monday turned away a San Diego-area policeman’s challenge to the Boy Scouts’ ban on gay leaders without ruling on the merits of his claim.

California’s civil rights law forbids businesses and public agencies to discriminate against persons based on their sexual orientation. However, the state courts ruled the Boy Scouts are a private volunteer organization, not a “business establishment.”

El Cajon police officer Charles Merino was removed as a Scout leader in 1992 after the organization found out that he was gay. He challenged his removal in the state courts and lost.

His appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court asserted that California’s state policy violated the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws.

Merino said he was disappointed but not surprised by the ruling, given the conservative nature of the court, and thinks that his case was worthwhile because it raised issues of discrimination. “I think it [the anti-gay policy] shows how backward the Boy Scouts are,” he said. “Just because some is gay or lesbian doesn’t mean they are not a moral person.”

Boy Scout lawyers called his appeal “frivolous” and noted that Merino had not raised the constitutional claim in the lower courts.

So, without comment, the justices dismissed the appeal in Merino vs. San Diego Council of the Boy Scouts, 98-544.