Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Pete Rose on the Other Side of a Glass Ceiling

NEW ALBANY, Ind. (CN) - An Indiana high school's "Sports Stag" event, featuring baseball legend Pete Rose, unfairly excludes the fairer sex, two women claim in Federal Court.

Christina Osborn and Jessica Hillyer, both Greendale residents, filed their complaint on March 23, with just over two weeks to go before Lawrenceburg Community School Corp. hosts its April 8 event.

Open only to men, the evening promises "dinner and drinks, live and silent auctions, and a talk with baseball legend Pete Rose," according to the four-page action.

Osborn and Hillyer say they want to support their local school's athletic program by buying tickets, which go for $75 a head, or $125 for a "VIP" experience.

The "sports stag" night is purportedly "men-only," however. Osborn and Hillyer say such a bar violates their equal-protection rights under the 14th Amendment since a public high school is sponsoring it.

No government interest justifies the exclusion of women, according to the complaint.

"Men and women are similarly situated as to their ability and desire to pay the cost of admission to the Sports Staf event, to enjoy the evening's agenda and, in doing so, to support the LHS Athletic Department," the complaint states.

Osborn and Hillyer are represented by Kelly Eskew with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana in their complaint for an injunction.

U.S. District Judge Richard Young is presiding over the case.

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...