Reagan, Bush Are Members : Bohemian Club’s Ban on Women Employees Upset

An all-male hiring policy at a summer encampment maintained by the exclusive Bohemian Club, which includes President Reagan and some of the nation’s most powerful men among its members, has been struck down by a state appeals court.

The ban on women employees at the secretive Bohemian Grove retreat violates state anti-discrimination laws and is not justified by the privacy rights of club members, said a unanimous three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal.

The Bohemian Club is expected to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court. The ruling does not affect the club’s all-male membership policy.

The club’s 2,000 members include Vice President George Bush and dozens of the nation’s most influential political and business leaders.

Women hold a few jobs at club headquarters in downtown San Francisco but are excluded from all employment at Bohemian Grove, in the redwoods 65 miles north of San Francisco. The hiring policy was originally challenged in May, 1979.

In its ruling, issued late Thursday, the court cited a U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring private clubs to submit to state anti-discrimination laws unless certain “intimate associational rights” or “highly personal relationships” would be violated.

The opinion by Justice William Newsom said it was no justification that club members favored the ban on women employees or that members might be inhibited from walking around the encampment nude.

Noting that Bohemian Club policy forbids fraternizing between employees and club members, the appeals court said the hiring of women would not affect any “intimate” associations.