Chipping Away at Discrimination at the Country Club

Abstract

This Article will attempt to capitalize upon the renewed attention paid to the issue of the membership practices of some private clubs today and will argue that the time has come to abolish such forms of blatant discrimination through the following: (1) broad judicial interpretation of the Civil Rights Laws and a narrow interpretation of any exemptions contained therein; (2) state legislation affording all protected classifications of persons access to opportunities without any exemption for private clubs; (3) the denial of any government benefits or privileges to private clubs that discriminate; and (4) political and social pressures against discrimination. This Article will provide an overview of the federal law most frequently invoked in civil rights cases involving private club membership practices, the Public Accommodations provisions of Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and some state laws which provide recourse to women and minorities excluded from private club membership. It will discuss the balance courts have attempted to strike between clubs' and members' First Amendment right of association and the goal of eliminating discrimination through a judicially-created definition of "private club." Finally, this Article will conclude that even if a particular club fits the definition of a distinctly private club, and is therefore exempt from the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the government should require such a club to surrender its tax-exempt status and certain public benefits and privileges. Otherwise, individuals who are excluded from private clubs, along with fellow taxpayers in general, would be asked to support clubs which discriminate, including those from which they were originally excluded.