University Women : Man to Join Local Ranks of AAUW

Gerard von Talge, a psychotherapist from Irvine, will become the first man to join the Newport-Costa Mesa branch of the American Assn. of University Women.

Branch president Barbara J. North received Von Talge’s membership application Wednesday, two days after the AAUW voted at its 34th convention in Houston to allow men to join.

North said Von Talge “has applied for membership and therefore will be the first male member in our branch, if not in Orange County.” Orange County has 17 AAUW branches, with about 30,000 members.

Von Talge, 52, said he wanted to join the AAUW “primarily because I want to support the organization.”

“For one thing, I happen to be very interested in equal rights, and this organization has stood for this,” he said. “They were one of the first organizations to publicly allow blacks and other minorities into membership, and so I want to support that kind of organization in their openness for all people.”

Von Talge missed the distinction of being the nation’s first male AAUW member, however. North said a minute after the vote at the convention was taken, a South Carolina man named John Freeman became the first man to join.

The 106-year-old group, with 150,000 members, is believed to be the oldest and largest women’s organization in the nation. It’s dedicated to promoting “equity for women, education and self-development over the life span and positive societal change.”

“Having known the sting of discrimination, we felt we mustn’t perpetuate discrimination, so we just kind of decided to clean up our act,” North said, in explaining the vote.

Until the bylaw change, she said, “We were saying one thing and being part of the problem and not part of the solution.”

North said Von Talge had contacted her through another branch member several weeks ago and requested a membership application. She found his application in her mail when she returned home from the convention Wednesday night.

Von Talge, who is engaged to be married on Valentine’s Day to an Orange County attorney, has three children by a previous marriage. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Washington (1957), a master’s degree in existential philosophy and theology from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley (1967) and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the Fielding Institute in Santa Barbara (1984). He has a private practice in Irvine.

He said he doesn’t think the group’s vote to include men was overdue.

“My attitude toward that is a very positive one,” he said. “I think the timing was right for them in that they need to have that level of awareness. . . . I think it was a great move for them.”

A bylaw change requires approval of three-fourths of those voting. North said the vote on Monday “wasn’t unanimous, but it was overwhelmingly large.”

Although the issue of allowing men into the group has never come up before, North said, “we’ve known for the past year that it was on the agenda.”

North was given an indication of the way the vote would go earlier this month when her branch debated the question. In a straw vote, she said, just four of the 40 women present voted against men being allowed to join.

The old bylaw states that an applicant must be a woman holding a baccalaureate, or higher, degree from an institution on the group’s list of approved colleges. North said the word “woman” was changed to “graduate.”

But North said she doesn’t expect a flood of applications from men:

“I don’t think they’re eager to join and take over. I think there will be some men who are feminists and interested in working for women’s equity. I just don’t think there’s going to be a big rush.”

Meanwhile, Von Talge will be a distinct minority. But that doesn’t bother him.

“I’m very comfortable around women, and I really enjoy and appreciate women,” he said. “I really feel I’ll be well accepted.”