Boy Scouts of America:

U.S. Supreme Court decision

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Our main menu on the Boy Scouts is elsewhere on this web site. 

The Supreme Court decision:

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a close 5 - 4 decision, overturned an earlier New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that had found that the Boy Scouts were a public accommodation. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the BSA is a private organization and thus may set its own moral code. Forcing it to accept gays would violate its constitutional right to freedom of association. 

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote for the majority. He said in part: "The Boy Scouts asserts that homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the values it seeks to instill. [Requiring the Scouts to accept homosexual scoutmasters] would significantly burden the organization's right to oppose or disfavor homosexual conduct." He did acknowledge that homosexuality had gained greater social acceptance. However, he wrote that "This is scarcely an argument for denying First Amendment protection to those who refuse to accept these views. The First Amendment protects expression, be it of the popular variety or not."

Thus the BSA can now legally discriminate on the basis of gender, age, sexual orientation, religious belief or any other basis. They do not have to follow local, state or federal anti-discrimination laws. One interesting implication of the court ruling is that the BSA will now have much more difficulty when they try to gain access to schools or government facilities, or when they try to tap into government resources. In the past, they had held scout jamborees on army bases; this may not be possible in the future.

The court decision only applies to gay scout leaders, "...and does not directly confront the question of whether the Scouts may ban gays from general membership..." ₁  

Related essays on this site:

References:

1. "Boy scout -- public or private -- discrimination," AANEWS, 2000-JUN-28

Copyright © 1999 to 2004 incl., by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 
Originally published on 1999-AUG-9 
Latest updated: 2004-JUL-12
Author: B.A. Robinson