In 1979, the qualifications for membership included being male, at least 21 years old, of sound mind and body, a citizen of the United States and not a member of the Communist Party.

In 1919, a 'Flag Day resolution' was passed, barring membership to even passive sympathizers of the Bolsheviks, Anarchists, the I.W.W., or kindred organizations, or who does not give undivided allegiance to' the flag and constitution of the United States. The word ' God' was substituted for Supreme Being in 1946. Faced with losing their liquor licenses if they did not admit women, the Elks Lodges of Utah voted to become unisex in June 1993, which was followed by a vote at the Elks National Convention in July 1995 to remove the word 'male' from the national membership requirements.īelief in a Supreme Being became a prerequisite for membership in 1892. George-Dixie Lodge 1743 (1993), the Utah Supreme Court ruled that while freedom of association allowed the Elks to remain a men-only organization, 'the Elks may not avail itself of the benefits of a liquor license and the license's concomitant state regulation' as long as it violated the Utah State Civil Rights Act. By the following year, however, a resolution to repeal the discriminatory clause of the national constitution passed, desegregating the organization. Zelenka, because of his advocacy against the Elks' discriminatory policies which limited membership to white men. In 1972, the Elks expelled the head of the Ridgewood lodge, Richard J. As of June 2020, it claimed to have more than 750,000 members. īy 1890, 173 lodges had been established throughout the United States. įounded as the 'Jolly Corks', by December of 1868 it had adopted the name Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Organized as a club for minstrel show performers, the impetus for the group's founding was the death of a fellow actor to disease due to a paucity of funds for treatment and a desire to organize communal support for fellow actors in need. The Elks was established by actor Charles Algernon Sidney Vivian – a British expatriate and member of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes – in New York City on February 16, 1868.

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks ( BPOE also often known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks) is an American fraternal order founded in 1868, originally as a social club in New York City. 41★5′56″N 87☃8′24″W / 41.9323°N 87.6400°W / 41.9323 -87.6400ġ,928 local lodges, Elks National Home and Retirement Center, Elks National Foundation, Elks National Veterans Service Commission, Elks Veterans Memorial Restoration

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