ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 1, 1996 TAG: 9602010094
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOS GATOS, CALIF.
SOURCE: MIKE CASSIDY KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
CLARK CLEMENTSEN is for improving the community and developing the potential of women. But that's not enough.
Clark Clementsen, a Los Gatos hair stylist, is most everything the Junior League looks for in its members and one thing it most assuredly does not.
While he is dedicated to helping the less fortunate, willing to give his time freely and ready to learn how to be an effective community leader, he also is a man - the one thing the 95-year-old women's service agency cannot accept.
Clementsen was hurt when he heard that his application for membership in the Junior League of San Jose was not accepted. But, showing the grace of a bona fide Junior Leaguer, he is not sputtering mad. He's not even going to sue, which seems standard operating procedure these days.
``Two wrongs don't make a right,'' says Clementsen, 45, who adds that he's volunteered for league-sponsored projects for the past two decades. ``I still believe in their ideals and their commitment to the community.''
Well, most of their ideals.
He's all for the league's goal of improving the community. He likes the idea of promoting volunteerism. He's in favor of developing the potential of women. He's just not so sure that dozens of other men will rush to join the league, undermining the organization's efforts to prepare women for leadership roles.
``It's not going to be like a race to Macy's White Flower sale,'' he said.
But that's the league's position, and it won't budge, not for Clementsen, not for any man, says Holly Sloan, executive director of the Association of Junior Leagues International. In fact, just last May, delegates representing all 293 league chapters voted to keep men out.
``It's one of the few places in [women's] lives,'' Sloan said from the organization's New York headquarters, ``that they can be assured they will have a broad range of leadership opportunities.''
Word of Clementsen's quest has spread rapidly, helped by a network of 250 clients who exchange the latest community news as he works his magic on their hair. One customer, the mother of an Associated Press reporter, heard of his plight and the story was on the national news wire. Local television called. CBS called. Newspapers from New York, Connecticut and Texas called. Many customers voiced their support. Some did not.
Feelings were damaged. Clementsen lost at least one customer, a junior leaguer, but gained another, a longtime supporter of his charity work.
``To be very honest, I don't know that I had any clue that all this would come about,'' he said.
He should have seen it coming.
Clementsen's fight is reminiscent of recent battles by women who gained membership in the once all-male Jaycees, Rotary club and even the Elks.
Clementsen hardly meant to begin a crusade. His desire to join the league grew out of conversations with clients, many of whom are league members. They would tell him of their charitable works and enlist his help. As a result, he's worked the league rummage sale to benefit battered women. He's gone to court with abandoned or neglected children. Last month, he volunteered to style the hair of skaters at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, which the league helped sponsor. He even coifed Rudy Galindo's now-famous sister and coach, Laura.
Clementsen figured letting men join would allow the league to get more done. So, last fall, he asked a member of the San Jose league if she would request an application on his behalf.
``A week or two later, they called back and said they weren't accepting men,'' Clementsen said. ``They were gracious about it.''
Faith Borges, president of San Jose's 800-member league chapter, said the rejection was nothing personal. But, if he's looking to join a service organization, he will have to look elsewhere.
League officials are not deterred by court cases opening men's clubs to women. Christine Carty, the international association's lawyer, said Clementsen's case is different in several ways. First, a court might not define the Junior League as an organization that must be open to all. Even if it does, as a women's group that in part seeks to reverse historic discrimination against women, the league may indeed be allowed to exclude men. Carty pointed to a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that generally approved of such exclusions at the Mississippi University for Women and several later cases. And while men frequently ask about joining the league, neither Carty nor Sloan are aware of any legal challenges to the league policy.
Clementsen says he will ask to apply every year. He is confident that someday officials will say yes.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 linesby CNB