Word: membership
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...Election committees today struggle to attract a politically correct pool of candidates. Minturn insists, “there are plenty of people who are eager to enjoy a great meal and good conversation.” The difficulty, though, lies in diversifying their membership. “There just are not too many takers,” says one club member, who asked not to be named, “but it’s understandable. If you were black, you wouldn’t want to stick out like a sore thumb. My instinct is that the Somerset would...
...Other avenues to power and high society avail themselves. And while identity politics have by no means demolished these hallowed institutions, “diversity” is upon them. Just over a generation ago, Irish Catholics, Jews and blacks were not considered worthy of membership. A woman’s place was, well, in her own club, the Chilton-—not in the den of men, in any event. At Myopia Hunt Club on Boston’s North Shore, women golfers were forbidden to enter through the main door or linger in the lounge...
...gain admission to one of Boston’s clubs, candidates attend a number of dinners over the course of several months. “Membership selection is an elaborate process,” says Minturn, “They sound people out and don’t officially propose them until the very end. This is partly to avoid an embarrassment...
...social orientation, like the all-male Elks clubs or the Knights of Columbus, are exempt. Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 specifically exempted private clubs. And since private clubs traditionally have been acknowledged as possessing First Amendment protection from public-accommodation laws, efforts to open their membership to women met with little success in previous attempts. At the licensing hearing, some of the haughty practices of these all-male clubs were revealed. Alice Richmond, former president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, testified...
...Licensing Board Chair Andrea Gargiulo did not threaten to have any liquor licenses revoked until a year later, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a challenge to New York clubs over a city rule barring membership policies that were discriminatory. This gave Gargiulo the green light. Once the gates swung open, there was no stampede of high heels, however. These bastions of maleness are, it seems, a bit too male. The parking is a hassle. There is too much booze. And while women are, in fact, welcomed, they often do not feel comfortable. Many of the first women who joined...