Court Rules Boy Scout Ban on Homosexuals Is Illegal

An appeals court in New Jersey ruled Monday that it is illegal for the Boy Scouts of America to ban homosexuals.

The court overturned a decision barring James Dale, 27, an Eagle Scout and assistant scoutmaster, who earned 30 merit badges during his 12 years with the organization.

Dale was expelled from the Monmouth County Council of the Boy Scouts in 1990 after local scouting officials learned from a college newspaper story that he is gay.

The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which supported Dale’s suit, said Monday’s decision was the first time any appeals court in the nation had ruled against the scouts.

A spokesman for the Boy Scouts said the organization will appeal to the New Jersey State Supreme Court.

“We’re disappointed,” said Gregg Shields,” a spokesman for the national office of the Boy Scouts of America.

” . . . A person who engages in homosexual conduct is not a role model for [traditional] values, and, accordingly, we don’t offer leadership or membership in the Boy Scouts of America to avowed homosexuals,” Shields added.

In the United States, the Boy Scouts have 5.8 million members, about 100,000 of whom live in New Jersey.

In its decision, the Superior Court appellate panel said, “There is absolutely no evidence before us . . . supporting a conclusion that a gay scoutmaster, solely because he is 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 in New Jersey is the latest in a series of scouting cases that have been making their way through the courts.

California’s highest court is considering the case of Timothy Curran, an Eagle Scout in a troop in Berkeley who was told he could no longer participate in scouting after the Oakland Tribune featured him in a story about gay youth in the Bay area.

The highest court in California also has before it the case of Chuck Merino, the head of an explorer post run by the El Cajon Police Department who was dismissed from scouting because he is gay.

There also is litigation in Chicago and the District of Columbia.

Lawyers for both the Boy Scouts and the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund expect the U.S. Supreme Court eventually will decide the issue of whether gays can openly participate in scouting.