James Dale New Jersey resident James Dale was an Eagle Scout who served as an assistant Scoutmaster to a Boy Scout troop. When speaking at Rutgers University, Dale said he was gay and was quoted in a local newspaper. Because of the Scouts' policy forbidding publicly avowed homosexual adult leaders, they told him he could no longer serve as a leader. Dale sued for readmittance and won in a New Jersey Supreme Court decision that was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court as Boy Scouts of America v. Dale in 2000. The Court reversed the New Jersey decision by a 5-4 vote, ruling that the Boy Scouts could deny the position to Dale based on their right to freedom of association. Troop 259
New Jersey resident James Dale was an Eagle Scout who served as an assistant Scoutmaster to a Boy Scout troop. When speaking at Rutgers University, Dale said he was gay and was quoted in a local newspaper. Because of the Scouts' policy forbidding publicly avowed homosexual adult leaders, they told him he could no longer serve as a leader. Dale sued for readmittance and won in a New Jersey Supreme Court decision that was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court as Boy Scouts of America v. Dale in 2000. The Court reversed the New Jersey decision by a 5-4 vote, ruling that the Boy Scouts could deny the position to Dale based on their right to freedom of association.
