Daily News from New York, New York • 371

8r vjv DAILY NEWS Sunday. November 1. 1987 DODiMlDQ fDlilKBd in Eta dtafe They won't take negative response on membership By DJ. SAUNDERS OaKy News Staff Mmer For more than 150 years, there have been places in Manhattan where gentlemen could be with gentlemen of the same pedigree with the assurance that there would be no outsiders to complicate matters. The gentlemen merely called it "the club," a sufficient enough title for the privileged few.

Picture leather chairs, dark paneled walls, well-stocked bars, billiard rooms, fine cigars, ribald jokes, quiet dining rooms with stewards wearing white gloves to cater to every whim, including delivering discreet notes on silver trays, envelope face-side down, from ladies other than the gentleman's wives. They were also the places were deals were cut that stretched all the way to Wall Street, Madison Avenue and the high-revenue world of real estate and show biz. Now paint that picture over and put women or other "outsiders" in those plush chairs, and, for that matter, all over the club, including the exercise area and swimming pool, and see what happens. A gentle rebellion sets in and the hullabaloo is carried all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court Many issues emerging Manhattan's private clubs, which for more than a century lived a quiet existence behind very closed doors, are now under attack, caught by conflicts ranging from the female membership issue to high-power real-estate development The case before the U.S.

Supreme Court results from New York City's 1984 Public Law 63, which bars discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of sex, race, creed or color. The law establishes qualifications for public accommodations, such as number of members and nature of activities, that separate them from "distinctly private" clubs. Former City Council President Carol Bellamy, who was one of the original authors of the bill, said that the 1984 law was passed to meet the changing nature of the workforce, which has witnessed an influx of women. She noted that the focus of Public Law 63 was sex discrimination, since there were already laws on the book prohibiting race and creed discrimination in public places. Women want to get ahead "Women are in the business world today like never before," Bellamy said.

"Women are interested in getting ahead in business like everyone else. Quite frankly, this legislation was passed because of business. It was only to apply to clubs where business took place." According to the city's Human Rights Commission, 30 private clubs are under investigation on charges of denying women membership and, as a result, complaints have been filed against four. Two are the prestigious New York Athletic Club on Central Park South, founded in 1868, which once counted President John F. Kennedy's speechwriter Theodore Sorensen as a member until he resigned, protesting the club's alleged discrminatory policies, and the Union League Club at 38 E.

37th St The latter is perhaps the staunchest foe of integration of the sexes. A complaint had been filed against the University iJS i Mk t4 hlv -4'! 1 I I 1 i Ki-t', ttt -Mil ntl MWWW ir'" i in -f1 -5 St. 1 '4 i 1 s. ifc VA a See CLUBS Page 3 UNIVERSITY CLU3 at 1 W. 54th St agreed in June to allow women to join after a complaint had been filed.

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