Another gender bias lawsuit, this time by a female golfer in Massachusetts who insists on competing in men’s competitive golf events.  In Cape Cod, Massachusetts a Nor’easter is brewing and it looks as if the Town of Dennis will be on the receiving end.

Elaine Joyce has filed a discrimination or gender bias lawsuit against the town of Dennis, as well as sibling courses Dennis Pines and Dennis Highlands. Why? She was not allowed to compete in a men’s only tournament. Ms. Joyce is a single digit handicapper and has won numerous women’s amateur events on Cape Cod. No one doubts her abilities. Apparently Joyce has dispatched all same sex competition and seeks to compete on the same field as the men.

According to Joyce, “"The only way to get better is to practice, practice, practice, and to play with people better than you, and that’s the men," she said.” Furthermore, Joyce said she wants to play in tournaments with men because “you play against people who are as good as you or better than you if you want to get better. There are no women at my level except one college student (Mary Chamberlain, who defeated Joyce in last year’s club championship) and she doesn’t always play in Dennis.” Why not try out for a few mini tours or even the Duramed Futures Tour? Please help me to better understand this. Have you exhausted all avenues of female golf competition? It leaves one wondering if playing with the guys is really her main objective.

According to Joyce’s attorneys, Laura Studen and Nancy Newark of the firm Burns & Levinson, they cite the town’s “perpetuation of an ‘historic custom’ of offering ‘men only’ golf tournaments that prohibit women from participating.” Her attorneys compare depriving Joyce the right to play in a men’s only golf tournament to “the once ‘historic custom’ of men’s only bars or of whites’ only drinking fountains.” They further allege that practices at Dennis golf courses “perpetuate the social and economic inferiority of women and cannot be rationalized by any legal standard.” I believe these lawyers are reaching a bit here by comparing civil rights with not being allowed to play in a men’s golf tournament; after all, the town offered a women’s only tournament. According to town officials, the policy was changed, but too late for Joyce’s liking, and thus the lawsuit was filed. According to The Daily News Tribune, it appears that Ms. Joyce is suspicious of the town’s claim of adopting current USGA tournament policy. Joyce contends member-member tournaments will include men’s and women’s divisions rather than allowing people of both genders to play with and against each other. Again, what is wrong with separate gender divisions within the same tournament?

The Dennis Golf Advisory Committee voted in October to adopt the Massachusetts Golf Association and United States Golf Association’s non-gender-biased tournament rules.

According to the Daily News Tribune, “at its first meeting following denying Joyce’s request to play in the May 4-5 men’s tournament, the golf advisory committee discussed its gender-based policy. At the time, GAC Chairman Jim Horvath urged adopting the MGA and USGA non-gender based policies, but the committee voted 5-1 against Horvath’s proposal.

Last June, the GAC voted 6-1 in favor of all 2008 member-member and member-guest tournaments having both a men’s and a women’s field. Believing the change should be implemented for fall tournaments, Horvath opposed the vote. At the same meeting he resigned from the golf committee, citing increased work demands. The town’s gender-based policy was not discussed in July, August or September.

On Oct 22, the GAC unanimously voted to adopt USGA entry procedure, rules and regulations for all tournaments starting in 2008.”

Horvath said, “Personally, I’m glad the issue was raised in May because something needed to be done. I also wish that other members of the GAC had gone along with my suggestion [to adopt USGA policy] on May 14 when I brought this up. At the time, I showed members the USGA and MGA tournament entry forms that are non-gender biased.”

Horvath said he is disappointed with Joyce for not attending any GAC meetings and not voicing her displeasure in person. “She or any woman should have the right to play in a men’s tournament as long as they play from the men’s tee markers and by the tournament rules,” he said. “I wish the change had come sooner, but at least it has come.” I wonder if a man would be allowed to enter a women’s tournament and play from the women’s tee markers? It may be only a matter of time before all golf tournaments are unisex.

This lawsuit came six months after Joyce, a member of Dennis golf courses since 2005, was not allowed to play with her father, Patrick Joyce of Dennis, in a men’s member-member golf tournament at Dennis Pines.  One could surely argue on behalf of Ms. Joyce that “if” her father did not have a son, why not allow the daughter to play in the event? Joyce’s lawyers are “seeking in excess of $75,000 have resulted from Joyce’s “humiliation, embarrassment shunning, disenfranchisement and other losses.” In my opinion, this is absurd. Is it about the money, or the right to play golf with men? Asking for monetary damages infers the opposite of what her primary goal was or should be. She is also requesting that the town of Dennis incur all of her legal fees as well.

According to Golf Director Brian Boone, “If Elaine registers in any Dennis tournament and wants to play against men because it raises the level of her game or for whatever reason, she may do that. This change should cover all possibilities.” It sounds like the committee sincerely listened to her concerns and made a change, for some, for the better. If this was Ms. Joyce’s ultimate goal, why clutter up the court docket with such a lawsuit?

It seems that Ms. Joyce is no stranger to these types of legal wranglings. According to the New York Times’ Marcia Chambers, “a decade ago, Joyce succeeded in playing with men on weekends at Bayberry Hill and Bass River, the public courses in nearby Yarmouth.”

In her present complaint, Joyce said the latest experience at Dennis Pines left her feeling “ostracized, marginalized, humiliated, embarrassed and denounced.” She said many men played in tournaments in each town and knew about her previous case in Yarmouth. There, Joyce wanted to become a member of the so-called Forty Thieves men’s group so she could play on weekend mornings and play competitively.

Eventually, the Yarmouth town administrator found that Bayberry Hill and Bass River were subject to the state’s antidiscrimination laws. He told the Forty Thieves to accept her or lose their block of preferential weekend tee times. They reluctantly accepted her into their group rather than loose their preferred block of tee times.

Joyce said she began to feel hostility after she filed the state discrimination complaint. One Saturday, after a match-play club championship, she walked into the clubhouse after the first round. “There were 20 to 25 guys in there,” she said. “And as soon I walked in the door, everything stopped. Boys will be boys, they always have, and they always will. In fact, there will always be that guy in the gallery holding up an “Iron my shirt” sign.  It’s just the boys, you know, being boys.  No one likes a party crasher from any direction, male or female. In fact, I personally would not want to associate with women, or even men for that matter, that were not sincerely welcoming me into their fold.

What will happen when all of the women’s tours are comprised mostly of men who weren’t quite good enough for the Hooter’s Tour? This is already happening in Massachusetts high school sports. In fact, boys are allowed to play girls’ field hockey in Massachusetts. Field hockey has forever changed, it’s a much rougher game now. Many complain about girls getting injured. According to writer Joe Burns of www.wickedlocal.com,  “In 1991, a Chatham boy joined his school’s girls’ field hockey team because there was no boy’s field hockey team. Boys on Cape Cod and in other parts of the country have joined girls’ field hockey teams for the same reason. Their inclusion has caused concerns for league officials and parents. In an undated entry, a Massachusetts parent on the National Youth Sports Safety Foundation Web site voiced concern for the safety of his daughter. She was taken to the hospital after being injured by one of two boys playing on the Sandwich High School girls’ field hockey team. “Why can’t these schools start boys’ teams?” he asked. Well, I highly doubt that these young lads would have tried out for the girl’s team had a boy’s team been in the offering. In contrast, the Town of Dennis does in fact offer women’s only golf events and in my opinion, herein is the difference.