Lawsuit Alleges Sex Bias in Bridge Tournament Rules

Five world-class bridge players filed a $1-million sex discrimination suit Monday against the American Contract Bridge League, protesting tournament events limited to men-only or women-only teams.

The league, which could not be contacted for comment on the Los Angeles Superior Court civil suit, sponsors 24 national championships a year. Sixteen of the events are for “open pairs,” permitting a man and a woman to compete as partners. But eight events are for “men’s pairs” or “women’s pairs,” limiting the teams to same-sex partners.

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The five players--all residents of New York who frequently compete in tournaments in California--claim that preventing them from entering some events because of sex wrongly inhibits their ability to amass the maximum points toward world competition.

John E. McDermott, Los Angeles civil rights lawyer who prepared the suit, contended that the practice violates California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination because of sex, race, religion or ethnic background.

“There is no rational, legitimate or demonstrable relationship between gender and a person’s ability to play bridge,” McDermott wrote in the 14-page suit.

The plaintiffs include two married couples and one other man.

Jillian Blanchard and her husband, Robert Blanchard, claim that they were improperly prevented from entering a men’s pair event at a tournament in San Diego last November. They said they wanted to compete in the event in order to maximize their qualification point total toward representing the United States in world championship open pair events.

Parties to Lawsuit

John Mohan, his wife, Kay Schulle, and Drew Casen joined the suit, claiming that the practice reduces their income by preventing them from working in all tournament events. The three are professional bridge players who make their living as paid bridge partners.

No woman, the suit noted on behalf of Jillian Blanchard, has ever represented the United States in the open pair events of the world bridge championships, partly because of the difficulty in winning enough available events to qualify. The current system, the suit claims, discriminates against male-female teams by limiting them to fewer events than their same-sex competitors.

In addition to $1 million for the five players’ “humiliation, mental anguish, insult to dignity and emotional distress,” the action seeks court orders prohibiting the league from conducting tournament events segregated by sex or from selecting United States teams for world championships based on segregated tournaments.