The Boy Scouts of AmericaThe Boy Scouts of America is a non profit youth development organisation. Their program is for young people to build character and helps them to develop their personal fitness. James Dale joined the Scouts when he was 8 years old in New Jersey and was presented with an Eagle Scout Award in 1988, which is the highest award available in the Scouts, he later became a Scoutmaster for Troop 73 when he was 18 years old. At University, Dale became co-president of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Alliance and gave an interview to the Newark Star Ledger where he told the interviewer that he was gay. Once the interview was published, BSA (Boys Scouts of America) officials removed him from his position. "The grounds for this membership revocation are the standards for leadership established by the Boy Scouts of America, which specifically forbid memberships to homosexuals"
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Court CaseDale filed a law suit in the New jersey Superior Court, saying that the Boy Scouts had discriminated against him on the basis of sexual orientation by revoking his membership from the club. The New Jersey public statute prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in places of public accommodation. However during the court case, the New Jersey Superior Court found that the Boy Scouts was not a place of public accommodation and was a private group not covered under this law. It also sided with the Boy Scouts in their beliefs that under the First Amendment they had the right to not accept Dale as an appropriate adult leader. However the New Jersey Appellate Division held the view that the public accommodations law did apply to the Boy Scouts because of their broad-based membership and that they indeed did violate the law by revoking Dale's membership based on his homosexuality. Because of this ruling, the Boy Scout of America are still allowed to disapprove of homosexuals working as leaders in their group as it is not consistent with the values they wish to instil in the children they take care of.
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