Spokane7
50°
July 30, 2010 in City
Club traditions just discrimination, women say
It was Wednesday, May 9. The place, the Spokane Country Club.
Little did the community know that what was about to happen would shake the foundations of polite society.
A woman walked into the Men’s Grill.
And talked for a minute with her husband.
The good men of the club were understandably affronted. Especially after the woman, Tracy Christensen, acted “rude and defiant,” in the words of one man who wrote a letter to the club’s board. Christensen’s husband “took no action,” the man complained. Several “other members voiced their opinion after she left,” the writer continued. “All were angry and disgusted.”
Well, sure.
Did I mention this was not 1947?
It was 2007. And the Great Men’s Grill Debacle might simply have vanished into the night if Christensen and three other women had not sued the club. Their lawsuit is set to go to trial in November; letters outlining the incident were obtained by the women’s attorney, Mary Schultz, during discovery.
The lawsuit, filed last summer, argues that the women were illegally discriminated against at the club under the Consumer Protection Act, among other arguments. Women pay the same amount to join and the same monthly dues ($415 last year). And yet there are scads of events in which they can’t participate, and times they can’t use the course.
There was the Men’s Grill – though that has been renamed, and opened to women, at least nominally. Women cannot tee off on Saturday or Sunday mornings – the club has reserved two coveted weekday mornings for the “ladies.” They cannot compete in men’s tournaments – or vice versa.
All that, for the same low price as the boys.
Private clubs have some legal leeway to discriminate. Schultz says that she has researched other clubs that divide events and facilities by gender, and finds that many offer different memberships to men and women, for different prices. She makes a fast-food analogy: They charge the men for a Big Mac, and the women for a junior cheeseburger.
“What the Spokane Country Club does is they sell the men and the women the Big Mac,” she said. “But they give the men the Big Mac and they give the women the bag with the junior cheeseburger in it – and then they keep assessing them for the Big Mac.”
Club representatives declined to comment. In the past, they have defended their practices as typical for private clubs, and said they expect to win in court. They seem right about one thing: It’s not uncommon for private clubs to have different tee times and events for men and women.
I don’t pretend to know how the legal arguments will – or even should – shake out. But I find the passionate defense of the gender ghetto a little … retro.
A lot of the discriminatory stuff at the club is encoded in its “traditions,” Schultz said. That’s where it’s spelled out that men get to golf on weekend mornings, and the ladies get those coveted midweek spots.
“A lot of events say members tournament, members dining, members this and members that,” Schultz said. “So you look at that and say, ‘OK, I’m a member.’ But it turns out the book has a section called tradition, and by tradition, only men are allowed into certain areas of the club, certain events.”
For reasons I cannot imagine, some 28 women were members of the Spokane Country Club last year. Twenty-eight out of 370, according to court records.
But back to 2007. The year that rocked the world.
When Christensen walked into the Men’s Grill so brazenly, it set off a chain reaction. She said, in an interview by e-mail, that she had stopped in to visit briefly with her husband. One man – who later wrote the letter of complaint – asked her when she’d had her sex-change operation, she said. She told him she didn’t see any signs telling her she couldn’t be there, then left with her husband. She claims she was calm and polite, not “rude and defiant.”
The man fired off his letter, saying that as someone who “respects and appreciates what the Spokane Country Club stands for,” he had to voice his concerns over the actions of “a member’s spouse, Tracy Christensen.”
Christensen is actually a member, as are the other three women who sued. But he could be forgiven for not knowing the difference.
“Spokane Country Club golf rules clearly ask that all members and spouses respect and support the longstanding traditions of our club,” he wrote. “I am disturbed that Mrs. Christensen has, once again, conducted herself in a manner offensive to Club Members, and certainly has not followed the prescribed rules.”
Ah, yes. The cool, green scent of tradition.
Several weeks later, Christensen and her husband were called to a meeting with the club’s president, David Blodgett, and general manager, John Stone. Christensen said the two men lectured her husband about keeping her under control and what he ought to be “letting” her do.
“I felt as if I was a child, or at the very least as if we were back in the 1950s,” she said.
The Christensens received a letter warning them that “any future incidents of this nature will not be tolerated.”
And that was the end of that. Sort of. About a year later, 93 men at the club found themselves unable to endure the ongoing discrimination. The 93 – about a quarter of the club’s members – signed a petition of complaint, arising from a dispute over tee times.
Enough is enough, they said. This discrimination must not stand.
Men, they said, were being treated unfairly.
The club was favoring women.
Shawn Vestal can be reached at (509) 459-5431 or shawnv@spokesman.com.
Couple acquitted of caging 2 boys 
misjustice on July 30 at 6:41 a.m.
The above incidents could be contributing to the “Club’s” difficulties in recruiting new “members.” Despite their Marketing and Sales Director, Jon Fine’s, claims to the contrary, the “Club” has an image problem…
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/jul/04/shaping-a-new-image/
Albert on July 30 at 8:55 a.m.
Oh darn! I was going to apply for membership…What a bargain at only $415 buckeroos per month. I could tee off, enjoy the fact that I’m a “somebody” with importance, and know that if my wife of 45 years needs to speak with me that she will be given the opportunity to “perhaps” do so. How fun to have a “men only” grill to sit and talk about my importance with other important fellows. I can’t wait to spend the money.
Here’s an idea: Let’s everyone request an application for membership and fill up their mail with junkola. Talk about a “nose full”!
Spokane_Citizen on July 30 at 9:28 a.m.
Just another reason why private clubs of all types (including the SCC) are having severe revenue problems (which were apparent even long before the current economic meltdown). Their salad days are long gone…..and good riddance.
It would be interesting to hear one of the male-centric board of directors meetings as they ponder the profound mystery of declining membership rolls. Articles like these will certainly accelerate their demise, as potential members’ wives nix the idea of spending thousands of dollars a year at a venue filled with affluent Archie Bunkers. They might as well put up a ‘No Gurlz’ sign at their dilapidated and crumbling old granite gate.
Hell, I’m a man, could easily afford the membership, but I’m particular about who I associate with (certainly don’t want to rub shoulders with the type of members who’d support such a humiliating atmosphere for women). These louts aren’t really what I’d term ‘men’ anyway…..I can imagine what ‘treats’ they are as fathers and husbands.
Spokane_Citizen on July 30 at 9:33 a.m.
Misjustice…I thought I’d point out that the article you linked to was about the Spokane Club, not the Spokane Country Club, and I don’t believe their relationship is more than one of loose affiliation. Of course you’re absolutely correct in the fact that these ‘birds of feather’ flock together, and possess the same attitudes and financial survival difficulties.
spokanada on July 30 at 10:03 a.m.
Another reason why Spokane is stuck in the past with no direction.
mikemcdonnell on July 30 at 12:10 p.m.
Women pay the same amount to join and the same monthly dues ($415 last year).
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The Spokane Club membership varies with the age of the parents. Families with adults 35 and over pay a $495 initiation fee and $151.73 per month. Parents under 35 pay initiation fees of $295 and monthly fees of $81.24 or $137.65, depending on their age. An individual pays a $295 initiation fee and $115.73 per month.
If you want just a health club then go elsewhere (YMCA etc) If you want a health club, dining, hotel, meeting rooms, then go to the Spokane Club.
spokanada on July 30 at 12:54 p.m.
Mike, the article was about the Spokane Country Club, not the Spokane Club.
MrNatural on July 30 at 4:03 p.m.
I just love the debate that ensues when defending gender exclusive privileges. I am reminded of a time when I was a kid and we built a tree fort and no girls were allowed. Oh how superior we felt being able to deny them entry. How we enjoyed the elite masculinity and how we would tease and taunt from our high perch. How this would goad the neighborhood girls into devious and mischievous attempts to playfully challenge our professed authority. Of course that was all before puberty and becoming an adult.
In defense of men/women only organizations I see the desire and even a need in a kinship sort of way but the SCC policies may have blurred the line resulting in what equates to as a juvenile throwback to the days in my boys only tree fort.
Bob_Knows on July 30 at 6:55 p.m.
Sure, an Ms. Hillary frequents a Women’s Club in NYC. We have Women-ONLY fitness places. Women-only clubs, Women-only specials, women-only shops, etc. etc. etc. all over town, all over the state, all across the country. Why doesn’t the SR write about that? Could they be misandrist sexists?
misjustice on July 30 at 7:31 p.m.
Oops! My bad! Sorry!