Mike De Socio — Morally Straight: How the Fight for LGBTQ+ Inclusion Changed the Boy Scouts – and America

Marking Pride Month at Roosevelt House, the LGBTQ Policy Center is pleased to present a discussion of Morally Straight: How the Fight for LGBTQ+ Inclusion Changed the Boy Scouts – and America by award-winning journalist Mike De Socio.

Weaving in his own experience as a boy scout and journalist, De Socio tells the story of the “accidental” activists who emerged to challenge one of America’s most iconic institutions. Playing out over 25 years, beginning in an era when gay rights were little more than a cultural sideshow, when much of the country was recommitting to conservative social mores, Morally Straight sheds light on a struggle that, according to De Socio, forever changed the country’s view of gay people and their rights in American society.

According to New York Times bestselling author of 13 Hours and Lost in Shangri-La, Mitchell Zuckoff, Morally Straight’s “masterful reporting and gripping prose… reveal the futility of trying to defeat people who’ve been trained as champions of right over wrong, to occupy the high ground, and to lead with honor and integrity.”

Joining Mike De Socio in conversation will be activist James Dale, the plaintiff in the now infamous Supreme Court anti-discrimination lawsuit, Boy Scouts v. Dale; and Tim Curran, the first person to sue the Boy Scouts of America for anti-gay discrimination.

Mike De Socio is an independent journalist based in upstate New York who writes about cities, climate change, and the LGBTQ+ community. His work has been published in the Washington Post, Bloomberg, the Guardian, Fortune, Insider, Xtra, and YES! magazine. He produces journalism content for publications and organizations that prioritize social justice. His work fights against bigotry, misinformation, and discrimination through rigorous reporting and nuanced narratives to break through political talking points.

Tim Curran is a veteran broadcast journalist who also happens to be the first to sue the Boy Scouts of America for anti-gay discrimination. A TV and radio news reporter and editor, Curran is also an award-winning writer, producer, and director of documentaries for cable television. Previously, he worked as a writer and editor for ten years at CNN. He also launched and led the news operation on SiriusXM Radio’s LGBT channel, OutQ, from 2003 to 2012.

James Dale is a civil rights activist whose legal battle in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale left an indelible mark on American civil rights history. While the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2000 decision didn’t rule in his favor, it catalyzed a national conversation about LGBTQ+ youth and sparked a movement that ultimately transformed policies within and beyond the Boy Scouts organization. For his advocacy work, he has received numerous commendations from organizations including the ACLU, Human Rights Campaign, Garden State Equality, and the City of New York. Today, he serves on the board of Lambda Legal, the organization that represented him before the Supreme Court, continuing his lifelong commitment to equality.

Erin Mayo-Adam (she/her), moderator, is the Director of the LGBTQ Policy Center at Roosevelt House, an associate professor in the Political Science Department, and a member of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Faculty and Curriculum Committee. She is the author of Queer Alliances: How Power Shapes Political Movement Formation and has published in numerous academic outlets, including the Law & Society Review, Law & Social Inquiry, and the Oxford Encyclopedia of LGBT Politics and Policy. Her research is situated in the fields of American politics, law and society, and political theory and bridges scholarship on social movements, interest groups and public policy, intersectionality, gender and sexuality, and migration and labor politics.