644
Opinion of the Court
lectively, Boy Scouts). The Boy Scouts is a private, not-forprofit organization engaged in instilling its system of values in young people. The Boy Scouts asserts that homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the values it seeks to instill. Respondent is James Dale, a former Eagle Scout whose adult membership in the Boy Scouts was revoked when the Boy Scouts learned that he is an avowed homosexual and gay rights activist. The New Jersey Supreme Court held that New Jersey's public accommodations law requires that the Boy Scouts readmit Dale. This case presents the question whether applying New Jersey's public accommodations law in this way violates the Boy Scouts' First Amendment right of expressive association. We hold that it does.
I
James Dale entered Scouting in 1978 at the age of eight by joining Monmouth Council's Cub Scout Pack 142. Dale became a Boy Scout in 1981 and remained a Scout until he turned 18. By all accounts, Dale was an exemplary Scout. In 1988, he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, one of Scouting's highest honors.
Dale applied for adult membership in the Boy Scouts in 1989. The Boy Scouts approved his application for the position of assistant scoutmaster of Troop 73. Around the same time, Dale left home to attend Rutgers University. After arriving at Rutgers, Dale first acknowledged to himself and
foyle; for the American Public Health Association et al. by Marvin E. Frankel, Jeffrey S. Trachtman, and Kerri Ann Law; for Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom et al. by Edward W. Swanson and Paula A. Brantner; for Deans of Divinity Schools and Rabbinical Institutions by David A. Schulz; for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People by Dennis C. Hayes and David T. Goldberg; for Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Inc., et al. by John H. Pickering, Daniel H. Squire, and Carol J. Banta; for the Society of American Law Teachers by Nan D. Hunter and David Cole; and for Roland Pool et al. by David M. Gische and Merril Hirsh.
Michael D. Silverman filed a brief for the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church et al.
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