Timothy Curran:
I chose Timothy A. Curran because he filed a lawsuit against the Mount Diablo Boy Scouts of America, in a well-known case called Curran v. Mount Diablo Council of the Boy Scouts of America, because he felt that he had the right to be a boy scout assistant scoutmaster. He filed a lawsuit because he was denied the right to be an assistant scoutmaster because he was gay. He lost the case and the Boy Scouts were given the right from the first amendment of the Constitution to exclude openly homosexual people, the court also ruled that excluding homosexuals from the Boy Scouts of America is not a violation of the fourteenth amendment. The case took place in California. With the decision that they made it changed the way that people thought about a business from a private organization. The trial began on September 20, 1990. He was one of the many homosexuals denied the right to volunteer and do community service.
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^^Him when he was an Eagle {with his mom}^^
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^^Him now^^ I was also lucky enough to be able to ask Timothy a couple of the following questions!: 1) How did it feel to be rejected for something that you can't help?
It made me mad, of course, especially since the Boy Scouts headquarters in Texas was interfering with my troop, which wanted me to stay as a leader. But I was also excited, because I immediately saw it as an opportunity to fix an unjust policy. Little did I know almost thirty years would go by, and the bad policy would still be in place.
2) What year did you apply for the asistant scoutmaster position?
When I turned 18 – being no longer eligible to remain a youth member – my troop automatically enrolled me as an assistant scoutmaster. I was never asked to fill out an application, since I had been with the troop for 4 years by the point, and no one had ever ‘applied’ in that situation before.
3) Was your mom proud of you for sticking through what you wanted to do, even though you had a very slim chance of getting it?
It was not at all obvious at that time that I had a “very slim chance” of getting in, since I was already in. My troop regarded me as an assistant scoutmaster, and I had already served in that capacity for several months. But, yes, my mom was very proud of me for standing up for my rights and for what I believed was the scout-like thing to do – to fix an injustice that affected not just me, but dozens or perhaps hundreds of people over the years.
4) Was your family always there for you?
I came out to my parents as gay when I was 16 (almost two years before the Boy Scout controversy), and they were totally supportive and understanding – especially considering this was in the mid-1970s, when out gay teenagers were a lot less common.
5) At what age did you realize you were gay, then display it in public?
I figured out I was gay when I was 15. I started going to a gay youth support group, keeping it a secret from my parents for about a year until I was ready to come out to them.
6) Did your parents support you through everything that you wanted to do, and push you toward you goals in life?
My parents were totally supportive, as I said. While they sometimes expressed concerns or questions about my choices (when to date, whom to date, career risks, college selection, etc), they trusted my judgment and backed me up 100% in the end.
7) Did you ever get discriminated against for being homosexual?
Apart from the Boy Scout incident, a little bit of harassment in high school, and a near-gay-bashing on the streets of San Francisco, I have luckily not had to face discrimination directly. Of course, you never know what people think or whether they’ve secretly discriminated against you – but I’ve never detected any obvious homophobia directed at me.
I chose Timothy A. Curran because he filed a lawsuit against the Mount Diablo Boy Scouts of America, in a well-known case called Curran v. Mount Diablo Council of the Boy Scouts of America, because he felt that he had the right to be a boy scout assistant scoutmaster. He filed a lawsuit because he was denied the right to be an assistant scoutmaster because he was gay. He lost the case and the Boy Scouts were given the right from the first amendment of the Constitution to exclude openly homosexual people, the court also ruled that excluding homosexuals from the Boy Scouts of America is not a violation of the fourteenth amendment. The case took place in California. With the decision that they made it changed the way that people thought about a business from a private organization. The trial began on September 20, 1990. He was one of the many homosexuals denied the right to volunteer and do community service.
I was also lucky enough to be able to ask Timothy a couple of the following questions!:
1) How did it feel to be rejected for something that you can't help?
It made me mad, of course, especially since the Boy Scouts headquarters in Texas was interfering with my troop, which wanted me to stay as a leader. But I was also excited, because I immediately saw it as an opportunity to fix an unjust policy. Little did I know almost thirty years would go by, and the bad policy would still be in place.
2) What year did you apply for the asistant scoutmaster position?
When I turned 18 – being no longer eligible to remain a youth member – my troop automatically enrolled me as an assistant scoutmaster. I was never asked to fill out an application, since I had been with the troop for 4 years by the point, and no one had ever ‘applied’ in that situation before.
3) Was your mom proud of you for sticking through what you wanted to do, even though you had a very slim chance of getting it?
It was not at all obvious at that time that I had a “very slim chance” of getting in, since I was already in. My troop regarded me as an assistant scoutmaster, and I had already served in that capacity for several months. But, yes, my mom was very proud of me for standing up for my rights and for what I believed was the scout-like thing to do – to fix an injustice that affected not just me, but dozens or perhaps hundreds of people over the years.
4) Was your family always there for you?
I came out to my parents as gay when I was 16 (almost two years before the Boy Scout controversy), and they were totally supportive and understanding – especially considering this was in the mid-1970s, when out gay teenagers were a lot less common.
5) At what age did you realize you were gay, then display it in public?
I figured out I was gay when I was 15. I started going to a gay youth support group, keeping it a secret from my parents for about a year until I was ready to come out to them.
6) Did your parents support you through everything that you wanted to do, and push you toward you goals in life?
My parents were totally supportive, as I said. While they sometimes expressed concerns or questions about my choices (when to date, whom to date, career risks, college selection, etc), they trusted my judgment and backed me up 100% in the end.
7) Did you ever get discriminated against for being homosexual?
Apart from the Boy Scout incident, a little bit of harassment in high school, and a near-gay-bashing on the streets of San Francisco, I have luckily not had to face discrimination directly. Of course, you never know what people think or whether they’ve secretly discriminated against you – but I’ve never detected any obvious homophobia directed at me.
Biblography:
http://www.timcurran.com/
http://www.timcurran.com/scouting/
http://law.jrank.org/pages/13336/Curran-v-Mount-Diablo-Council-Boy-Scouts-America.html
The questions and answers were from an e-mail between me and Mr. Curran.