The Nation - News from July 13, 1986

The Lions Club International voted down a proposal to allow women to join the 1.3-million-member club, but its new president predicted the measure will eventually pass. With just under 38,000 affiliates, the club claims to be the world’s largest international service organization. Fifty-nine percent of the estimated 6,600 to 7,000 delegates attending the 69th annual convention in New Orleans voted in favor of the proposal, short of the two-thirds majority needed to change the constitution. Officials said the greatest opposition came from some chapters in the South and those dominated by members in their 50s and 60s, as well as from the Lions Auxiliary.