April 23, 2000 Gay Boy Scout case to be heard this week The U.S. Supreme Court will consider the rights of individuals and groups in a case from New Jersey. By Emilie Lounsberry INQUIRER STAFF WRITER James Dale has an exemplary record as a Boy Scout. He became a Cub Scout at age 8 and a Boy Scout three years later. He collected more than 30 merit badges over the years, ultimately earning the coveted rank of Eagle Scout and becoming a summer camp staff member, fund-raiser, and assistant scoutmaster at his troop in Monmouth County, N.J. But 10 years ago, Dale was expelled from the organization because he is gay, and this week, he takes his fight for reinstatement to the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that is being closely watched around the nation. The case centers on the question of whether the Boy Scouts of America's constitutional right to freedom of expression would be substantially impaired if the organization was forced to admit an openly gay member. But it also is about how far government can go in telling such private groups who can - or cannot - be chosen as its leaders to convey a message. More than 100 groups and government agencies have weighed in on the matter through more than three dozen friend-of-the-court briefs filed in the case, which is set to be argued Wednesday. "It's an extremely important case," said Brooklyn Law School professor Nan D. Hunter, who filed a brief supporting Dale on behalf of the American Law Teachers, which seeks to improve the quality of legal education by making it more responsive to societal concerns. "This felt like it was particularly important, especially to those of us who teach constitutional law, because the case is phrased as a conflict between two extremely important constitutional principles - freedom of expression and equality under the law," Hunter said. The American Bar Association, the ACLU, the NAACP, seven cities and 10 states - including New Jersey but not Pennsylvania - also are supporting Dale. The Claremont Institute, a number of family and religious organizations, the National Legal Foundation, and the U.S. Catholic Conference are among the groups siding with the 90-year-old Boy Scouting organization, which has more than 4 million members. At issue is the August ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court that the Boy Scouts of America had illegally expelled Dale, violating the state's law against discrimination. In so ruling, New Jersey bucked courts in several other states, including Connecticut, California, Oregon and Kansas, which have found that the organization was not a "public accommodation" - a term that generally refers to any group that holds itself as open to the public. New Jersey's high court said the organization bears every characterization of a "public accommodation" and, therefore, has no right to restrict its membership under the state's antidiscrimination law, which includes a prohibition against discrimination based on sexual orientation. The court also found that enforcement of the state's antidiscrimination law did not encroach on the Boy Scouts' First Amendment freedom-of-expression rights because the goal of scouting is not to promote an antigay message. "It's a very difficult case," said Kenneth Sherrill, a political science professor at Hunter College at the City University of New York and an expert on gay-rights issues. "It's one that's going to lead to lots of articles in law reviews." The scouts have relied on one part of the Scout oath - to be "morally straight" - as a prohibition against homosexuality, but Dale's lawyers contend that scouting makes no mention of homosexuality in its oath, law, motto or slogan. "If the Supreme Court adopts the approach urged by the Boy Scouts, it could create an escape hatch for ... discrimination on any basis, not just sexual orientation," said Evan Wolfson, who has represented Dale for 10 years. Eugene Volokh, a law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, said that although the case will have no impact on such issues as discrimination in public employment or in private industry, it is symbolically important. >From the Boy Scouts' point of view, there's a reason for such expressions as "he's a >real Boy Scout" or "scout's honor," he said. "It's a means of teaching certain values, and it's up to the Boy Scouts to define what those values are." Volokh said some groups are supporting the Boy Scouts because of a philosophy that government should not be permitted to dictate to a private group who should or should not be admitted. "There must be an island of freedom from government intrusion on people's lives and private associations." Wolfson, a lawyer with the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which advocates for the civil rights of gays, described Dale as eager to have his day before the high court, and said, "It's been a very long time coming." Dale, 29, an advertising director for a New York-based magazine, has spent most of his life involved in scouting - or trying to win reinstatement to the organization. While he rose from Cub Scout to Boy Scout, his family got involved, too - his father as an assistant scoutmaster, his mother as a den mother, and a brother as a scout. Brian Thomas, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts, said of Dale, "He was an Eagle Scout and a member of the Order of the Arrow, which is really as high as you go as a scout." In 1990, Dale was expelled after Scout leaders learned of his sexual orientation from a newspaper article about a gay-issues seminar at which he had been a speaker. His 12 years in scouting ended abruptly with a three-paragraph letter from the Monmouth Council of the Boy Scouts of America stating that his membership was revoked. Back in Monmouth County, another Scout leader is waiting to see how the U.S. Supreme Court will rule. Scott Pusillo, an assistant scoutmaster with a troop in Freehold, said that if the high court rules in favor of the Boy Scouts, he may be in line for a letter similar to the one Dale got a decade ago. "I think they're holding off till they see what the decision is," said Pusillo. He said he has been quoted about his sexual orientation in news accounts but that so far, no one in the organization has mentioned it. Pusillo, 20 and a student at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island, said he loves scouting and hopes to remain involved, noting, "The organization has done so much for me." He said he was coming to terms with his own sexual orientation as Dale's case was going through the courts in the 1990s and was unhappy that the organization had such a negative view of homosexuality. "It really convinced me that there was something wrong with me, and it took a number of years to get over that," Pusillo said. He is a volunteer in an organization, Scouting for All, that seeks to open scouting to gay members. Steven Cozza, 15, a former Boy Scout from California who founded the group with his father two years ago, said he had a hard time fathoming why Boy Scout leaders are so adamant about barring gays. "They're the ones that taught me to try to make the world a better place," Cozza said. "That's what I'm doing now." http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/2000/Apr/23/national/SCOTUS23.htm -- Elian is a setup to U.S. recognition of Cuba, orchestrated by greedy big business to capture the Casino business in the Caribbean. Fidel's alter ego, the rapist, is just the thug to pull this off. You watch! Bard To All Elected Officials: "Stop stealing my earnings that you use to give to those whom you know will vote for you." There's not a dime bit of difference between a DemoRat and a RepubRat, they're simply two wings of the same bird of prey which pecks at your earnings while insidiously devouring your Freedom. BUCHANAN-Reform http://gopatgo2000.com/default.htm Eternal Vigilance - The Price of Freedom! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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