Copyright © 1995 - Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc.
The 1st Tenure of Da'ud Ibn Auda (2nd year)
[Argent, semy of cockroaches sable...] "This is being returned under RfS I.2, Offense. This general principle states that 'no submission will be registered that is detrimental to the educational purposes or good name of the Society, or the enjoyment of its participants because of offense that may be caused, intentionally or unintentionally, by its use.' Given the universally negative reaction of the commenters to this semy charge, it is believed that a significant percentage of the populace of the SCA will find this device so offensive as to reduce their enjoyment of and participation in SCA activities." (LoAR 12/91 p.19).
"[In addition to the conflict problem] a more serious problem is that registration would imply the acceptance by the Society of an order, membership in which is based on gender. If we are not willing to accept an order all of whose members could only be male, we should not give our 'stamp of approval' to one whose members can only be female." (LoAR 8/91 p.25).
[Nunneschild] "Lord Dragon has documented this kind of formation for the byname." (LoAR 2/92 p.3).
[Re: an order where it was noted in submission that membership was only open to one gender] "Regarding the 'imposition' (as stated in the LoI) 'of mundane political values on the medieval functions of the Society'... it must be reiterated that the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. is a 20th Century non-profit, educational corporation which has to obey a lengthy list of national, state, and local regulations before it can begin to impose its own rules upon its members. (Appendix A to Corpora notes that 'The SCA, Inc. as a corporate person, along with all of its members as citizens, must obey the law of whatever jurisdictions apply to them in exactly the same fashion as all other corporations or citizens of those jurisdictions.') As an officer of that corporation, the Director of Heraldic Research for the SCA, Inc.does have certain responsibilities to ensure that his actions in fulfilling the duties of his office do not accept for the Corporation or imply acceptance by the Corporation of the actions or statements of any of its subdivisions (of which the <submitting area> is one) which would knowingly violate any of those laws, including anti-discrimination laws.
As applied to this particular case, two written statements by the Corporation seem particularly on point: In the General Principles of the Rules for Submissions of the College of Arms it is stated that 'no submission will be registered that is detrimental to the educational purposes or good name of the Society, or the enjoyment of its participants because of offense that may be caused, intentionally or unintentionally, by its use.' The second is a reiteration of the Society's long-standing nondiscrimination policy made in the Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors held January 12, 1992: 'The Board affirmed that the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., has no policy whatsoever of denial of membership or participation based on reasons of race, age, creed, color, gender or sexual preference.'... The stated purposes of the submitted 'order' are in violation of that policy... This was verified in a conversation on this submission with the Steward of the Society, who noted that 'the SCA specifically does not limit things by gender', and that such an order is 'not appropriate to our non-profit status'. The Director of Heraldic Research of the SCA, Inc. cannot in good conscience, unless specifically told to do so by his 'boss', the Board of Directors of the SCA Inc., register this...
The submitting herald should note that continuing to use an Order name which has been returned by Laurel violates Corpora (VII.B.2 and VII.B.3), which states in pertinent part that 'the names and insignia of these awards and orders {both armigerous and non-armigerous} must be ratified by the Laurel Sovereign of Arms.' " (LoAR 4/92 pps. 24-25).