Gavin Newsom’s father went to war with shadowy Bohemian Grove over members’ X-rated antics
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s father once ruled that the super-secretive men’s club Bohemian Grove couldn’t bar women from working there — preventing members from going au natural at the exclusive redwoods retreat.
As a U.S. Appeals Court Judge, William Newsom an issued an opinion striking down a ban on hiring women at the 150-year-old club, saying it was no justification that members might be stopped from walking around the encampment nude.
He added that if the men felt embarrassed, they could use the enclosed shower and bathroom facilities.
The elder Newsom made the ruling in 1986, well before his son entered the California political arena and ascended to the state’s highest office.
A year later, the California Supreme Court let the ruling stand after the club appealed the decision on the grounds that allowing women “violated its constitutional rights to privacy and freedom of association and would ‘drastically and fundamentally’ change the nature of the organization.”
The club has included former presidents George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan among its high-profile members.
William Newsom died in December of 2018, counting the Bohemian Club opinion as a prominent part of his legacy.
Bohemian Grove remains an invite-only club that counts titans of industry from across America.
Its veil of secrecy was lifted this week when a list of more than 2,000 members was revealed, including such luminaries as Conan O’Brien, billionaire Michael Bloomberg and ex-Google boss Eric Schmidt.
