Alexander Myers, Class of 2023, Philosophy and Psychology

In 1990, James Dale, a lifelong Boy Scout and dedicated humanitarian, was fired from his position as an Assistant Scoutmaster. The only reason given by the Boy Scouts of America? Dale was gay.

Earlier that summer Dale, then a rising junior at Rutgers, spoke at a conference on social work about the health needs of gay teenagers. When an article about the event quoted him stating that he was gay he wound up fired from his Assistant Scoutmaster position. One month later Dale filed a lawsuit alleging illegal discrimination before spending the next ten years watching his case ping-pong through the New Jersey courts. After an initial, explicitly homophobic ruling in 1995, the case was successfully appealed in 1998 before ultimately heading to the US Supreme Court in 2000.

In support of Dale’s case, the American Bar Association, a prominent legal organization, filed an amicus brief (pictured) to the Supreme Court. In this brief, the ABA argued that by discriminating against Dale, the BSA violated his dignity which, citing past Supreme Court decisions, they believe is unconstitutional. Though the suit was ultimately decided in BSA’s favor, this argument from dignity would later prevail in both US v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges, two landmark cases that legalized gay marriage. In both cases, the majority pointed to a broad “right to dignity” that some argue may be overly expansive even as it advances civil rights. However, regardless of its future applications, it’s clear that dignity has been and will continue to be an important idea in American civil rights.

Source

Amicus Curiae Brief in the case of Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, American
bar Association, March 29, 2000. National Lesbian and Gay Law Association (U.S.)
records, #7742, Box 2, Folder 2, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell
University Library.

https://newcatalog.library.cornell.edu/catalog/5957255

Bibliography

Rosen, Jeffery. “The Dangers of a Constitutional ‘Right to Dignity’.” The Atlantic, Apr 29, 2015.

Meers, Erik. “The Model BOY SCOUT: A California Boy Takes on the Scouts.” The Advocate, Apr 14, 1998, 46-47, 50-51, https://www.proquest.com/magazines/model-boy-scout/docview/2112551931/se-2?accountid=10267.