In Reversal, Elks Induct 3 Women

Three longtime volunteers have won their fight to become the first women accepted as members of the Bellflower Elks lodge.

In a reversal of an action taken in May, the Elks lodge members voted Wednesday to induct the three women. On Thursday, Georgia Bonacci, Rose Knight and Sandra Strong wore their Elks pins at a news conference held at their attorney’s office in the Wilshire district. They also displayed pots and pans they had prepared food in for years as auxiliary Lady Elks.

The Elks is a private club and charitable organization that helps disabled children, among other things. The national Elks organization dropped its men-only rules four years ago.

No Bellflower Elks officers were available to comment on this week’s decision.

Now that she is a full member of the Elks, Bonacci said she is looking forward to going to the meetings with her husband.

“It was nice to have my husband give me a pin with a kiss last night,” Bonacci said. Attorney Gloria Allred, who represented the women during meetings with the Elks attorney, noted that the induction occurred a day before Woman’s Equality Day, the official anniversary of American women winning the right to vote.

“Today, 79 years later, the message is that women still must fight for their right to vote in private clubs,” Allred said.