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Boy Scouts Pros And Cons

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On June 28, 2000, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 ruling that the Boy Scouts of America could prohibit gay men and boys from gaining membership. This case came about when James Dale, assistant Scoutmaster to Troop 73 of New Jersey, was notified that his adult membership to the Boys Scouts of America was revoked based on the fact that his sexual orientation was viewed as inconsistent with the Boy Scouts of America’s values by Monmouth Council Executive, James Kay.
James Dale joined the Boy Scouts of America as a Cub Scout when he was eight years old. He became a Boy Scout three years later then eventually became an Eagle Scout, which is one of the highest honors one can achieve in the Boy Scouts of America. Based on his achievements in the …show more content…

An interview with Dale was published in a newspaper, which had a photo of him with a caption saying that he was the co-president of the Rutgers University Lesbian/Gay Alliance. Within the month, Dale received a letter from Monmouth Council Executive James Kay telling him his membership in the Boy Scouts of America was being revoked and that membership was forbidden to homosexuals. Two years later, Dale filed a complaint in the New Jersey Superior Court saying that the Boy Scouts of America had violated the state’s public accommodation law because they had discriminated against him in a public setting. In places of public accommodation in the state of New Jersey, it is illegal for people to discriminate against someone based on their sexual orientation. The New Jersey Supreme Court decided in favor of the Boy Scouts. The court said that the Boy Scouts of America is a private group so the law does not apply to them. The court also said that the values of the organization were clear, basically saying that Dale should have understood that homosexuality was not acceptable in the Boy Scouts of America. The Boy Scouts of America could not be forced by the government to accept Dale as a leader under the First Amendment, which contains the freedom of

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