January 13, 1999
Court hears Scouts vs. gay leader
___TRENTON, N.J. (RNS)--The Boy Scouts' sexual mores went on trial Jan. 5 before the Supreme Court of New Jersey. For more than two hours in a Trenton courtroom, lawyers argued over whether the Boy Scouts can exclude homosexuals from leadership positions.
___One lawyer said the First Amendment right to express discriminatory views is limited to organizations like the Ku Klux Klan, formed specifically to push such an agenda. Diverse groups like the Boy Scouts, open to all boys, cannot harbor such views, he said.
___Another lawyer, however, defended the Boy Scouts' anti-gay policy, saying that as a private group it has a right to require leaders to promote its values.
___"Scout leaders are supposed to be models for children in the program to copy," said George Davidson, the New York attorney representing the Boy Scouts.
___James Dale, 28, formerly of Middletown, N.J., the former Scout leader at the center of the case, failed to live up to the organization's principles when he made public statements that suggested it is OK to pursue a homosexual relationship, Davidson said.
___"That is a message the Boy Scouts don't want to put in the face of Boy Scouts," Davidson said.
___Justice Gary Stein pointed out that Dale never expressed his views at a Boy Scout activity.
___Davidson said that didn't matter. The moment Dale became a gay rights advocate and ended up quoted in the Sunday Newark Star-Ledger discussing the gay lifestyle, he "gave up his right to wear the Boy Scout uniform," Davidson said.
___The two sides clashed in a packed Trenton courtroom in a case that has garnered national attention. Television cameras from at least three states lined the Richard Hughes Justice Complex. Activists wearing the upside-down pink triangle denoting gay rights filled the courtroom to support Dale. Pro-family advocates were on hand to fend off what they believe is yet another assault on a venerable institution.
___At the end of the arguments, Chief Justice Deborah Poritz indicated the court will issue a decision later.
___The outcome of the landmark case will have far-reaching consequences for the gay rights movement.
___If a majority of the seven justices of the New Jersey Supreme Court upholds a lower court ruling forcing the Boy Scouts to allow gay leaders in the ranks of the organization, New Jersey's highest court would be the first in the nation to issue such a decision.
___The California Supreme Court ruled last March that the Boy Scouts is a "social organization" that could ban gays and agnostics, but that was overturned on appeal.Frontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!