Rotary International v. Rotary Club of Duarte Board of Directors - Local California Rotary Chapter Creates "international" Incident

California adopted a law, popularly called the Unruh Civil Rights Act, that entitled all persons, regardless of sex, to equal accommodations, facilities, privileges, advantages, and services in business establishments. The local Rotary Club of Duarte, California, admitted women members in 1977. Rotary International, its parent organization, revoked its charter because the organization's rules state membership is limited to men.

The Rotary Club of Duarte and two of its women members sued Rotary International under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, seeking an injunction to prevent the parent organization from enforcing the rules against women or revoking its charter. A California trial court found that neither Rotary International nor the Rotary Club of Duarte were business establishments under the law, and ruled for Rotary International. The Duarte club appealed, and the California Court of Appeals reversed, finding substantial business benefits in the Rotary organization. The appeal court also concluded that membership in Rotary clubs was not a "continuous, personal and social" relationship taking place primarily in private and that the admission of women would not interfere with the organization's purposes. It also found that the organization's exclusion of women was not protected by the First Amendment.

The California Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Subsequently Rotary International petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for review, since the case involved a federal constitutional question. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the holding of the California Court of Appeals.