Morally straight : how the fight for LGBTQ+ inclusion changed the Boy Scouts--and America / Mike De Socio.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

De Socio, Mike, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Boy Scouts--Legal status, laws, etc--United States.

Boy Scouts.

Associations, institutions, etc--Law and legislation--United States.

Associations, institutions, etc.

Gay rights--United States.

Gay rights.

Sexual minorities--United States--Social conditions.

Sexual minorities.

Sexual minorities--Civil rights--United States.

LGBTQ+ people--United States--Social conditions.

LGBTQ+ people--Civil rights--United States.

Boy Scouts of America--Trials, litigation, etc.

Boy Scouts of America.

Boy Scouts of America--History.

Dale, James, 1970---Trials, litigation, etc.

Dale, James.

Cozza, Steven.

Tyrrell, Jennifer.

Wahls, Zach.

LGBTQ+ civil rights.

Physical Description:

xxiii, 376 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : color illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First Pegasus Books cloth edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Pegasus Books, 2024.

Summary:

This deeply-reported narrative illuminates the battle for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Boy Scouts of America, a decades-long struggle led by teenagers, parents, activists, and everyday Americans. Weaving in his own experience as a scout and journalist, Mike De Socio's Morally Straight tells a story that plays out over the course of nearly forty years, beginning in an era when gay rights were little more than a cultural sideshow; when same-sex marriage was not even on the radar; and when much of the country was recommitting to conservative social mores. It was during this treacherous time that accidental activists emerged, challenging one of America's most iconic institutions in a struggle that would forever change the country's view of gay people and the rights they held in society. In Morally Straight we meet James Dale, the poster child of Scouting who took his fight for inclusion to the Supreme Court; Steven Cozza, the 12-year-old scout in California who started a movement for inclusion called Scouting for All; Jennifer Tyrrell, the lesbian den mother whose expulsion from the Scouts reignited the gay membership controversy; Zach Wahls, the son of lesbian moms who led the final push for policy change; and an array of other previously unknown Scouters who played smaller--but no less crucial--roles in the fight for full inclusion. Richly reported and filled with unforgettable people, Morally Straight braids together these characters and brings to life their collective struggle. This is an essential narrative in the American LGBTQ+ rights movement, and a truly American story about the fight for a better future for our nation's bedrock youth organization.

Contents:

Prologue

Part one: Court of law. Betrayed by the Boy Scouts

The best interests of scouting

Working the courts

Let's start something - The Supreme Court

Pyrrhic victory

Part two: Court of public opinion. Shaped by scouting

Back into the spotlight

Accidental activists

Spinning up scouts for equality

An Eagle Scout, denied

The big push

Ban on the ballot

Part three: Court of honor. An untenable policy

The world as it is

The vote heard 'round the campfire

The final frontiers

Morally straight, totally queer

Epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-376).

ISBN:

9781639363858

1639363858

OCLC:

1336889441

Publisher Number:

99996559265