Opinion ID: 902845
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Events at Dennis Pines

Text: Elaine Joyce is an avid and proficient golfer who signed up with her father in April 2007 to play in a tournament at the Dennis Pines Golf Course the first weekend in May.1 The tournament was listed on the course schedule as a men's members-only event. Both Joyce and her father, Patrick, are members of the course and, in the fall of 2006, had been assigned a tee time for a similar tournament that was rained out.2 On May 2, 2007 -- three days before the start of the tournament -- the Town's head golf pro, Russell Champoux, called Patrick Joyce and told him that the Golf Advisory Committee 1 Dennis Pines is one of two public golf courses in the Town of Dennis. 2 Joyce testified about the 2006 event, but there is no documentary evidence of either the Joyces' registration or the circumstances of the tournament's cancellation. -4- (GAC), a volunteer group responsible for course policy, had decided that his daughter could not play in the Dennis Pines men's tournament because of her gender. Joyce was never contacted directly by Dennis Pines, but after her father relayed the news to her, she sent an email to the Town Administrator, Robert Canevazzi, seeking his help to make certain that this discriminatory practice is not condoned by the Town of Dennis or any of its committees. In her message, sent early on May 3, Joyce asked Canevazzi to act promptly to get the current decision reversed so that she could play in the weekend tournament. Joyce contacted Canevazzi because she had had a similar experience at a golf course in another town. After a prolonged effort to persuade club officials in that town to allow her to join a men's league, she was finally able to secure a policy change through the town administrator. Canevazzi replied to Joyce later the same day. He reported that he had spoken to Champoux and members of the GAC, and he had decided to uphold Joyce's exclusion from the tournament because changing the rules so late would not be fair to the 1600 plus members of the Dennis Golf Courses who may either desire or not desire to play in such a tournament. In addition, he noted that the Tournament Committee (a subcommittee of the GAC) had sought to schedule more women's tournaments to allow greater opportunities for women to have such competitive events. He stated that he did not view the club's tournament policies to be -5- discriminatory, but nonetheless had asked the chairman of the GAC to include discussion of the criteria for tournament participation at its May 14 meeting. Canevazzi did not expressly invite Joyce to attend that meeting, but he told her its time and location. The GAC's chairman, Jim Horvath, sent Joyce an email on May 4, in which he apologized for any confusion and inconvenience that you encountered in how you learned about your nonparticipation in this weekend's golf event. He explained that the GAC had voted in December to approve the schedule of tournaments set up by the Tournament Committee and the head golf professional. He wrote that, [t]o me, it was clear then that there were balanced opportunities for both men and women to play in the first 3 events of this year, and noted, I think that is still the case.3 He continued: As chairman of the GAC, I welcome open discussion on this matter and have placed it on the May 14 Golf Advisory Committee agenda (as Bob Canevazzi indicated to you yesterday). The meeting is at 5pm at Dennis Highlands. I hope that you can attend. Please don't hesitate to contact me in the interim. 3 Dennis Pines' 2007 schedule listed five men's-only tournaments and two women's-only tournaments, for a total of ten men's-only tournament days and two women's-only tournament days. In addition, there were seven tournaments in which both men and women were scheduled to play in separate divisions, for a total of thirteen days (twelve for women). At least one of the tournaments included a mixed gender division, in which men and women played together on teams. -6- Horvath then thanked Joyce for bringing this issue to our attention. Joyce did not contact Horvath or attend the May 14 meeting. At that meeting, the GAC voted to ask the Tournament Committee to make a recommendation on the gender-based tournament policy and report back to the GAC as soon as possible. At its next meeting, on June 11, the GAC accepted the Tournament Committee's recommendation that no changes be made to the 2007 schedule and that, beginning in 2008, every tournament would have a women's field.4 Creating separate divisions was consistent with the opinion of Town Counsel as reported by Canevazzi at the meeting. According to Canevazzi, counsel had expressed alarm[] that the course policy could be perceived as discriminatory and stated that it must be made more gender-neutral offering more women['s] divisions within the Tournaments. But Champoux, the club pro, observed at the meeting that the change would not resolve Joyce's complaint, which stemmed from her desire to play with the men -- and not in a parallel division for women. At the GAC's July meeting, the Gender Based Policy issue was tabled because no additional information ha[d] been received. 4 The meeting minutes indicate that the Tournament Committee at that time had an equal number of men and women. Horvath testified in 2011 that it had seven members, four of whom were women. -7-