San Diego, CA. (AP) – A California appeals court has ruled that a San Diego golf club did not discriminate against gays and lesbians based on sexual orientation or gender when it refused to give the same-sex partner of one of its members a reduced membership reserved for married spouses.

However, the court said that the couple might be able to show the club was discriminating by giving some privileges to unmarried heterosexual couples that it would not grant to an unmarried gay couple.

In a 3-0 decision, the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that the case filed by Birgit Koebke and Kendall French against the Bernardo Heights Country Club should return to the Superior Court for a possible trial.

Koebke, a marketing executive at a local television station, paid $18,000 for a club membership in 1986. Because they are unmarried, French, 41, an employee of a car dealership, cannot play the course for free like a spouse of a club member and cannot inherit Koebke’s membership. French can only accompany Koebke as a guest six times a year, paying the $50 to $70 greens fees each time.

A superior court judge ruled in favor of the country club in 2002 and the couple took the case to the 4th District Court of Appeal.

The appeals court heard testimony that the former general manager of the club had said that heterosexual couples – some unmarried, others divorced – were sometimes allowed spousal privileges. Grandchildren have also been allowed to play for free, according to court documents.

Koebke and French are registered domestic partners under California law. Their suit said that because they cannot be legally married under state law the club’s policy is discriminatory.

Superior Court Judge Charles Hayes last year threw out the case before trial. The couple, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and gay-rights organizations, appealed Hayes’ dismissal.

“The [appeals court] decision basically strengthens the reason that same-sex couples deserve the right to be married,” said Jon Davidson, an attorney for Lambda Legal in its Los Angeles office.

An attorney for the country club said that the club can easily prove that only married couples were allowed to benefit from the spousal rule.

In a similar suit in Georgia the city of Atlanta’s Human Rights Commission recently ruled that a country club could not discriminate against same-sex couples under the city’s human rights code. That case is currently before arbitration.