Leave them alone

Arizona Attorney General Terry "Don Quixote" Goddard has taken it upon himself to use my tax dollars to sue a private country club in Phoenix because it has the shocking gall to maintain separate dining facilities for men and women, and by God he isn't going to let them get away with it:

"'This really is an outrageous anachronism, and it's to the benefit of the country club to get it fixed,'...'We believe that it's outrageous behavior especially in this day and age to have blatant sexual discrimination. It's incredibly inappropriate and illegal, and we will proceed to court.'"

Well, who asked you for your opinion as to what behaviors are "anachronisms" and "outrageous", Mr. Goddard, not to mention your learned theories about what actions are in the best interest of the club and its members? Your job is to determine what is legal vs. illegal under the Arizona statutes and to prosecute people guilty of breaking the state's laws, not to be the arbiter of what is polite behavior or not.

The Constitution guarantees freedom of association, and by extension the freedom of not associating with someone if one doesn't care to. The members of the club don't have to join and pay dues, but they have freely chosen to do so while fully cognizant of the rules that are in place. The public is not asked to support the club, and the member couple who went whining to Goddard over the issue are free to vote with their dollars and take their golf business elsewhere. (Actually, I don't know why they still remain there, if the place is so awful.)

Personally, I can't fathom why the members of the club have such regulations. I rather enjoy the company of ladies at all times, including at meals. Why be around a bunch of other men when there's pretty women to entertain? But hey, who am I to impose my preferences onto them? They don't go around telling me how to live my life. If having separate rooms turns their crank, then so be it.

Mr. Goddard should get back to his job of enforcing laws in Arizona, and give up his quest to force everyone in the state to conform to his ideal of what is proper societal behavior in one's private life.