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Lahmann v. Grand Aerie of Fraternal Order of Eagles10/12/2005
Argued and submitted April 8, 2005.
Before Wollheim, Presiding Judge, and Edmonds and Schuman, Judges.
Affirmed.
Edmonds, J., dissenting.
This case requires us to decide whether the Fraternal Order of Eagles' policy of barring women from membership in its "aeries" violates the Public Accommodations Act, former ORS 30.670 to 30.685 (1999), and if so, whether enforcement of the act so as to compel the organization to consider applications from women would be unconstitutional. The case is before us for the second time. In our first opinion, we held that the act prohibits an organization such as the Eagles from discriminating in its membership policies on the basis of sex if the organization is a "business or commercial enterprise" and "its membership policies are so unselective that the organization can fairly be said to offer its services to the public." Lahmann v. Grand Aerie of Fraternal Order of Eagles, 180 Or App 422, 434, 43 P3d 1130, rev den, 334 Or 631 (2002) (Lahmann I). We remanded the case to the trial court, however, because, on the record before us, we were unable to determine whether those factual predicates existed. The trial court found that they did and entered a judgment against the Eagles. The Eagles appeal, renewing their arguments that the act does not apply to them and that, if it does, such an application is unconstitutional. We affirm.
I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Established in 1898, the Fraternal Order of Eagles is a national fraternal organization with over one million members. The group's stated purpose is to promote principles of "liberty, truth, justice, equality, for home, for country, and for God." At the national level, the Eagles have supported the enactment of pension and workers' compensation laws. At the state and local level, members perform community service projects and socialize together.
The Eagles have a national governing body called the Grand Aerie, which oversees state and local aeries. It does so by issuing "statutes," one of which establishes the membership requirement at issue in this case: "No person shall be eligible to be elected to membership in any Local Aerie unless such a person is a male, is of good moral character, and believes in the existence of a Supreme Being[.]" Although that requirement has been in existence since the organization's founding, the Grand Aerie in 1952 authorized the establishment of "Ladies' Auxiliaries" for women at the local and national levels. According to the Ladies' Auxiliary Rules and Regulations, the Grand Aerie retains "complete jurisdiction and control over the Grand [Ladies'] Auxiliary" with limited exceptions, and the "Grand [Ladies'] Auxiliary shall have no purposes that are apart from the aims of the Fraternal Order of Eagles." A local aerie may be affiliated with an auxiliary, but auxiliary members may not attend aerie meetings or vote on aerie
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