After coming out as a homosexual at the age of 19, James Dale thought his most difficult struggle as a gay man was behind him.

Within a year, however, Dale received a letter from the Boy Scouts of America notifying him he had violated the group’s morality standards because he was gay. Dale’s efforts to gain reinstatement in the Scouts began in 1990 and ended 10 years later with a 5-4 Supreme Court decision affirming the Boy Scouts’ entitlement to expel gay members because of the group’s right to free association.

James Dale shared his story Monday evening in the Memorial Union Theater as the Distinguished Lecture Series speaker. After recounting his fight against discrimination, Dale also spoke about the continuing struggle to increase rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, particularly the right to marry.

Dale’s account was often extremely personal as he explained the shocking blow he felt when discriminated against by the organization that had made him feel included as a boy.

“I joined the Boy Scouts because it made me fit in,” said Dale, who had achieved Eagle Scout ranking after participating in the group for 12 years. “I was shocked and saddened that this organization that I cared about could drop the iron curtain. We don’t expect discrimination. I didn’t expect a coming-out party, but I expected basic respect.”

Despite this, Dale was convinced the prejudice he experienced was unfair. He immediately challenged the organization’s actions by suing the Boy Scouts.

“I believed it was wrong. That was one of those moments that I knew it was wrong and I was right.”

The LGBT Campus Center co-sponsored Dale’s speech with DLS. Eric Trekell, the LGBT Campus Center Director, attended the event and said the Boy Scouts acted “hypocritically” when ousting Dale.

“The Boy Scouts want to have their cake and eat it too by being both public and private,” Trekell said. “They are a perfect example of judging a person not on what they’ve achieved, but on who they are.”

Although he lost his court battle, Dale assured the audience, “I know that I’ve won.” He pointed to the “hemorrhaging” effects the anti-gay policy has had on the Boy Scouts, causing groups like United Way to pull funding while also damaging the organization’s legitimacy as representing the interests of America’s children.

“The Boy Scouts of America have not just let me down, they have let down the youth of America,” Dale said. “They have lost the ability to say what the values youth should have are.”

Most of all, Dale said he believes the discussion America is having about gay rights is his experience’s biggest success. “In civil rights,” Dale said, “it is the conversation that matters.”

Dale emphasized that the right to gay marriage is the culmination of the battle for homosexual equality and constitutes an even more important struggle than his own fight against the Boy Scouts. He claimed that marriage rights would give many LGBT individuals “hope for the future” and may help solve many problems gay Americans face, such as rising HIV infections due to risky behavior.

“There are fights worth fighting. I think marriage equality is worth the fight,” he said.

Although stressing the need to push beyond current discrimination, Dale celebrated the vast strides the gay movement has made in the past decades as well.

“It is an exciting time in the civil rights movement. This is history. Savor the moment.”