Clubs

Under the Equal Opportunity Act, it is against the law to treat someone unfairly who is a member of a club or applying to become a member of a club, or to harass (hassle) them because of a personal characteristic protected by law. This includes sexual harassment. The law covers members and committees of management. A club could be legally liable for an individual club member's discrimination if that member acted on the club's instructions or with its authority.

What kinds of clubs are covered?

Clubs include social, sporting, community service and recreational clubs that occupy crown land or receive (directly or indirectly) funding from the Victorian government or a local council.

How can discrimination in clubs happen?

Membership applications

If behaviour is based on a personal characteristic protected by law, it may be unlawful for a club to discriminate against someone who applies to become a member by:

refusing membership, e.g. because the applicant is a gay man.
setting unequal terms for categories or types of membership, e.g. only accepting men as full members.
processing an application for membership unfairly, e.g. only requiring character references from people from non-English speaking backgrounds.

Existing members

A club must not discriminate against a member by:

depriving them of membership, e.g. because they belong to a union
varying terms of membership, e.g. ending life membership after discovering someone is a lesbian
refusing to accept a member's application for a different category or type of membership, e.g. refusing applications for the highest class of membership from non-Anglo Celtic members
denying or limiting access to club benefits, e.g. refusing use of the club's pool to a member who is HIV positive
any other unfair treatment based on a personal characteristic protected by law, e.g. excluding a member who has hepatitis C from playing in the club's annual football match.

Are there any exceptions?

There are some exceptions to the law covering clubs.