I was an an Assistant Scoutmasteformer rEagle Scout and military high school commander when I was expelled from the Boy Scouts of America in 1990, at abeing an "avowed homosexual." I was 19 and co-president of the Rutgers University Lesbian/Gay Alliance. I was heavily involved in HIV education, and fighting government inaction with ACT UP during the height of the AIDS crisis.
Represented by Lambda Legal for a decade, my case moved through the New Jersey court system to a unanimous victory in the state supreme court: a historic first. In June 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that decision in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale. In the 5-4 ruling the Court found the Scouts had a First Amendment right to exclude gay members.
But that wasn't the end. The cultural backlash triggered by the case proved more lasting than the ruling itself. Corporate sponsors pulled funding, United Way chapters severed ties, and even Steven Spielberg resigned from the BSA's advisory board. The public debate over institutional discrimination that the case provoked helped lay the structural groundwork for Lawrence v. Texas, workplace protections, and marriage equality.
Following the case, I led patient advocacy campaigns in global marketing, served as Associate Publisher of POZ magazine, presented research at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, and partnered with the Harvard AIDS Institute on HIV prevention strategy. Over the years, the case became a fixture in American culture—from Saturday Night Live and South Park to John Oliver—and the subject of two documentaries: Scout’s Honor (PBS) and Scout’s Honor: Leave No Trace (Hulu/Disney).
My writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine, and The Advocate, and I have spoken at more than 162 universities and corporations. Today, I proudly serve on the board of Lambda Legal.
My case continues to be cited in Supreme Court decisions, including 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis and Masterpiece Cakeshop, as the same arguments used to exclude me in the 1990s are now aimed at transgender youth. I write about what happens to people when institutions decide they don’t belong.
Connect with me at JamesRDale.com.
