Curran v. Mount Diablo Council of the Boy Scouts of America | |
---|---|
Decided March 23, 1998 | |
Full case name | Timothy Curran v. Mount Diablo Council of the Boy Scouts of America |
Citation(s) | 17 Cal.4th 670 , 952 P.2d 218, 72 Cal.Rptr.2d 410 (1998) |
Case history | |
Prior history | Judgment affirmed, 147 Cal.App.3d 712, 195 Cal. Rptr. 325 (1983) |
Holding | |
The Boy Scouts of America are not considered a "business establishment" and do not fall under the provisions of California's Unruh Civil Rights Act. Decision of the Court of Appeal is affirmed. | |
Court membership | |
Chief Justice | Ronald M. George |
Associate Justices | Stanley Mosk, Joyce L. Kennard, Marvin R. Baxter, Kathryn Werdegar, Ming Chin, Janice Rogers Brown |
Case opinions | |
Majority | George, joined by Kennard, Baxter, Chin |
Concurrence | Mosk |
Concurrence | Kennard |
Concurrence | Werdegar |
Concurrence | Brown |
Laws applied | |
Unruh Civil Rights Act (Cal. Civil Code § 51) |
Curran v. Mount Diablo Council of the Boy Scouts of America, 17 Cal.4th 670, 952 P.2d 218, 72 Cal.Rptr.2d 410 (1998), was a landmark case which upheld the right of a private organization in California to not allow new members on the basis of their sexual orientation. [1] Its companion case was Randall v. Orange County Council , 17 Cal.4th 736, 952 P.2d 261, 72 Cal.Rptr.2d 453 (1998).
In 1980, eighteen-year-old Tim Curran, an Eagle Scout, applied to be an assistant Scoutmaster in the Mount Diablo Council Boy Scouts of America. Members of the Boy Scouts of America, however, had recently learned that Curran was gay after reading an Oakland Tribune article on gay youth which featured an interview with Curran. Based on his sexual orientation, the Boy Scouts of America refused to allow Curran to hold a leadership position in their organization.
Curran sued in 1981, alleging that the Boy Scouts of America's membership requirements amounted to unlawful discrimination under California's Unruh Civil Rights Act, which required "Full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges or services in all business establishments".
This case was ultimately decided in 1998, when the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Boy Scouts of America. The court held that because the Boy Scouts of America was not considered a "business establishment" under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, it could not be required to change its membership policies so as to include homosexuals.
Psychiatrist and lawyer Richard Green was co-counsel for Curran. [2]
Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 (1996), is a landmark United States Supreme Court case dealing with sexual orientation and state laws. It was the first Supreme Court case to address gay rights since Bowers v. Hardwick (1986), when the Court had held that laws criminalizing sodomy were constitutional.
Boy Scouts of America et al. v. Dale, 530 U.S. 640 (2000), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court, decided on June 28, 2000, that held that the constitutional right to freedom of association allowed the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to exclude a homosexual person from membership in spite of a state law requiring equal treatment of homosexuals in public accommodations. More generally, the court ruled that a private organization such as the BSA may exclude a person from membership when "the presence of that person affects in a significant way the group's ability to advocate public or private viewpoints". In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that opposition to homosexuality is part of BSA's "expressive message" and that allowing homosexuals as adult leaders would interfere with that message.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 2001.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 1999.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 1992.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 1973.
The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Its decisions are binding on all other California state courts. Since 1850, the court has issued many influential decisions in a variety of areas including torts, property, civil and constitutional rights, and criminal law.
A cover charge is an entrance fee sometimes charged at bars, nightclubs, or restaurants. The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as a "fixed amount added to the bill at a nightclub or restaurant for entertainment or service." In restaurants, cover charges generally do not include the cost of food that is specifically ordered, but in some establishments, they do include the cost of bread, butter, olives and other accompaniments which are provided as a matter of course.
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA), one of the largest private youth organizations in the United States, has policies which prohibit those who are not willing to subscribe to the BSA's Declaration of Religious Principle, which has been interpreted by some as banning atheists, and, until January 2014, prohibited all "known or avowed homosexuals", from membership in its Scouting program. The ban on adults who are "open or avowed homosexuals" from leadership positions was lifted in July 2015.
Randall v. Orange County Council, 17 Cal.4th 736, 952 P.2d 261, 72 Cal.Rptr.2d 453 (1998), was a case before the Supreme Court of California that established that groups such as the Boy Scouts of America are not considered "business establishments" as used in the state's Unruh Civil Rights Act and could not be subject to its provisions. Its companion case was Curran v. Mount Diablo Council of the Boy Scouts of America, 17 Cal.4th 670, 952 P.2d 218, 72 Cal.Rptr.2d 410 (1998).
Evans v. Berkeley was a court case which upheld the right of governmental entities in California to withhold support from non-profit organizations that practice discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
A ladies' night is a promotional event, often at a bar or nightclub, where female patrons pay less than male patrons for the cover charge or alcoholic beverages. In the United States, state courts in California, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have ruled that ladies' night discounts are unlawful gender-based price discrimination under state or local statutes. However, courts in Illinois, Minnesota, and Washington have rejected a variety of challenges to such discounts.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place worldwide in the 1950s.
The Unruh Civil Rights Act is an expansive 1959 California law that prohibits any business in California from engaging in unlawful discrimination against all persons (consumers) within California's jurisdiction, where the unlawful discrimination is in part based on a person's sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status.
North Coast Women's Care Medical Group, Inc. v. San Diego County Superior Court is a case decided before the California Supreme Court on August 18, 2008, ruling that physicians must offer IUI infertility services to gays and lesbians despite religious objections or find a colleague in their office who will do so.
Yeaw v. Boy Scouts of America was a high-profile case filed in 1997 before the Supreme Court of California to determine whether the Boy Scouts of America is a business establishment within the meaning of the Unruh Civil Rights Act or has the right to exclude girls from membership.
National Gay Task Force v. Board of Education of the City of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 729 F.2d 1270, is a decision by the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit that upheld in part, and struck down in part, a law allowing schools to fire teachers for public homosexual conduct. It was the first federal appellate court decision to deny that sexual orientation is a suspect classification. It was affirmed by an equally divided vote in the United States Supreme Court.
James Dale is an American gay rights activist. He is best known for his role in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, the landmark US Supreme Court case that challenged the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) policy of excluding gay scouts from being scout leaders.
Scout's Honor is a 2001 American documentary film directed by Tom Shepard and written by Meg Moritz. Appearing as themselves in the documentary are Steven Cozza, James Dale, Tim Curran, Dave Rice and Scott and Jeanette Cozza. The film examines the Boy Scouts of Americas (BSA) policy against gays in the organization. It focuses on Steve Cozza and Dave Rice who join together to fight against the policy, and also relates the stories of two gay men who were expelled from the organization, and fought back in the courts. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2001, where it won an Audience Award for Best Documentary, and director Tom Shepard won a Freedom of Expression Award. The documentary had additional screenings at several other film festivals where it received multiple awards, and it also received a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary. The film aired nationally on the PBS series POV on June 19, 2001.