On Mon, 1 Nov 1999, Caitlyn M. Martin wrote:
>
> > So, if you wish to exclude men from your chapter meetings, I think
> > that's fair.
>
> For better or for worse, I don't think it's legal to do so. This was
> discussed heavily by Webgrrls a couple of years ago, and the conclusion that
> was reached was that we, ourselves, could be sued for discrimination. This
> applies only to the U.S., of course. (Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and
> I am merely passing on other people's opinions/conclusions).
Though I'm not a lawyer yet, I'm in my second year of law school, and I
just want to clarify this point, because people often have
misunderstand about who can discriminate:
You can have a private group/club that discriminates all it wants in the
US. Plenty of golf clubs, societies, etc. discriminate by gender, race,
ethnicity and other criteria. The Constitution, in fact gives them the
right to do so through the right to assemble.
You CANNOT discriminate based on gender and race IF you are a PUBLIC
organization. "Public" meaning pretty much anyone that gets money from
the government. This is why universities can't discriminate - they get
tons of money from the government through grants and student loans.
The distinction between public and private groups is obviously not so
clear cut. The Boy Scouts of America, for example, adamantly insist that
they're private, and therefore they can exclude whoever they want to
exclude (girls, gays and atheists).
However, this topic strays pretty far afield from the current discussions,
so anyone wishing to discuss this further can meet me in Grrl-talk. :)
Ingrid
************
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxchix.org
