Mass. Women Sues After Being Blocked from Men’s Golf Tournament

February 20, 2008

A Cape Cod, Mass. woman is suing the town of Dennis and its two public golf courses after she wasn’t allowed to play in a men’s tournament with her father.

Forty-three-year-old Elaine Joyce is a member of both the Dennis Pines and Dennis Highland golf clubs.

According to the suit filed last Friday, Joyce signed up to pair with her father in the clubs’ member-member tournament in May, but was not assigned a tee time.

The suit says her father was told he could play if he partnered with a man.

Joyce says she was told by town administrator Robert Canevazzi that the rules were part of the clubs’ “historic policy.”

Joyce’s suit says the gender bias is as unlawful as “whites’-only drinking fountains.”

Canevazzi could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

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Information from: Boston Herald, http://www.bostonherald.com