Massachusetts Women Charge National Civic Organization with Sex Discrimination

TLPJ Files Lawsuit against Fraternal Order of Eagles, Seeking Membership, Benefits, and Full Voting Rights for Women

Trial Lawyers for Public Justice filed a sex discrimination lawsuit on February 25, 2003, in Massachusetts Superior Court in Plymouth County against the national headquarters and a local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. The complaint charges that the national civic organization’s exclusion of women as members violates Massachusetts’ anti-discrimination and equal rights laws.

Although women may serve in the Eagles’ "auxiliary" clubs, they do not enjoy the rights and privileges of full membership. For example, women cannot attend meetings, vote for leaders, or participate in athletic competitions. Nor can women vote on administrative policies regarding the distribution of charitable contributions or medical and death benefits.

"It’s outrageous that in 2003, a public-minded organization would seek the company of women, but only if they have no say in how things get done, " said lead counsel Ed Rapacki of Ellis & Rapacki, LLP in Boston, Massachusetts. "It is time for the Eagles to get in step with other respected national civic groups by admitting women as full-fledged members."

The Eagles’ national organization, a Washington State corporation which claims 1.25 million members across the U.S. and Canada, decided to admit women in 1995, only to reverse course in 1998 and again exclude women. In 2000, the Eagles’ Lakeville, Massachusetts chapter told Plaintiffs Joan Moran and Mary Chichester that they could not be admitted as full members because of their gender.

"As a practical matter, the Eagles’ sole criterion for admission is that an applicant be male," said TLPJ Staff Attorney Rebecca E. Epstein. "Sex discrimination does not get much more clearcut than that. In many communities, the Eagles comprises a vital social, charitable and economic network. It is both unfair and illegal to deny women voting power and equal access to these benefits."

Last year, TLPJ joined an amicus brief filed by the Northwest Women’s Law Center in a similar sex discrimination case against the Eagles. In that case, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that the Eagles’ exclusion of women violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination. The Eagles has now begun admitting women as members in that state. The Plaintiffs seek a similar result in Massachusetts.

"In the past decade, other national ‘fraternal’ organizations, including the Elks and Moose, have opened their doors to women," said Epstein. "It is time for the Eagles to remove its barrier of bigotry by making its services and programs fully available to women as voting members."

In addition to Epstein and Rapacki, the plaintiffs’ legal team includes TLPJ Staff Attorney Adele P. Kimmel.

The complaint in the sex discrimination case, Moran v. Grand Aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, is posted on TLPJ’s web site, www.tlpj.org.

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