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Summarized by Kent Larsen
Supreme Court Case on Gays in Scouts could affect LDS Church
Associated Press 14Jan00 N1
By Laurie Asseo: Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON DC -- The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal in
the case of a former New Jersey Scout leader who was kicked out of
Scouting after the Boy Scouts of America learned he is homosexual. The
Boys Scouts of America appealed the decision of the New Jersey Supreme
Court last summer, which ruled that the BSA in not a private
organization, but a "public accommodation." The LDS Church filed a
friend-of-the-court brief siding with the BSA in that case.
The BSA claims that the New Jersey state law banning discrimination
against homosexuals in public accommodations violates the BSA's rights
of free speech and free association under the U.S. Constitution's First
Amendment. "Scouting adheres to a moral belief ... that homosexual
conduct is not moral," said the BSA's lawyer, George A. Davidson, after
learning that the Court would hear the case. "Boy Scouting is really all
about sending messages. The message is that you should be morally
straight."
The case involves former assistant scoutmaster James Dale, who, at age
20, was identified in a newspaper article as co-president of the Rutgers
University campus lesbian and gay student group. At the time the former
Eagle Scout, was also serving as assistant scoutmaster in the same troop
in which he had earned his Eagle. The BSA's Monmouth Council then
revoked Dale's registration as an adult leader.
His attorney says that opposition to homosexuality is not one of the
Scouts' main purposes, "As gay people we know how important the First
Amendment is," said lawyer Evan Wolfson of the Lambda Legal Defense and
Education Fund. "Their First Amendment rights are not being interfered
with. The members did not join the Boy Scouts for bigotry in the first
place."
The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in the case in April and
decide by July. The LDS Church uses the scouting program as an integral
part of its program for young men. A decision against the BSA could have
significant effects on the LDS Church's program.
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