Curran v. Mount Diablo Council of Boy Scouts of America

Opinion

THOMPSON, J.

In this case we are called upon to determine whether the expulsion of a person from membership in the Boy Scouts on the basis of his homosexuality constitutes a violation of both the common law right of fair procedure and the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Civ. Code, § 51). We have determined that using the status of homosexuality as a basis of expulsion is substantively arbitrary and therefore violative of the common law right of fair procedure. Moreover, before homosexuality may lawfully be used as a basis to expel, a rational connection must be demonstrated between homosexual…