ATLANTA (AP) – The gay woman who filed a complaint against a country club that refused to extend spousal benefits to her domestic partner said the city’s fine against the Druid Hills Golf Club sends a strong anti-discrimination message.

Mayor Shirley Franklin’s decision to fine the club up to $90,000 for violating the city’s human rights ordinance came as a “pleasant surprise,” said Lee Kyser, one of the club’s two gay members who filed complaints with the city in January challenging the club’s policy.

It is the first time the city has enforced the four-year-old ordinance, which allows the mayor to pull liquor and business licenses or impose fines against businesses found to be discriminatory.

“The dispute has now ranged over more than a year – it sure would have been better if the mayor had done this earlier,” said Randy New, the other gay member who filed the city complaint. “The club was under the impression she wasn’t going to do anything to them – we’re hopeful they will change their mind.”

Franklin ordered the city solicitor to fine the club $500 a day for up to six months – a total of $90,000 – unless the club changes its policy. The solicitor must decide with a municipal court judge when the fines will begin.

Golf club officials said the ordinance was unenforceable and that Franklin did not have the authority to impose such a fine. They filed a lawsuit seeking to block the fine.

It also asks a judge to throw out the city’s human rights ordinance, which requires businesses to treat people registered in the city as domestic partners as married couples. Franklin said the club violated the ordinance by refusing to extend spousal benefits, including golf privileges, to two gay members.

The lawsuit claims the city ordinance overreaches the city’s authority and violates the state constitution by granting rights to same-sex couples that are reserved for married couples. It cites a new constitutional amendment – passed overwhelmingly by voters in November – barring same-sex couples from marrying in Georgia.

Before the mayor fined the club, she contacted Kyser and her partner and told them she also will appoint a panel of experts to review the ordinance with the intent of possibly modifying it to make sure it could withstand legal challenges.

“She is saying, ‘You can sue us, but we are going to have this thing,’” Kyser said. “I think that Mayor Franklin has now got the city of Atlanta in a leading position on civil rights.”

Kyser, who remains a member of the club, said the fine puts additional pressure on the pocketbooks of the club’s 1,100 members, because they will be the ones who will have to pay for the fine or for legal costs of the club’s lawsuit.

“What [the fine] has done is say you can’t discriminate for free and it’s going to at least cost you. I think that’s very important,” Kyser said.

Despite the legal tussle between the city and the club, Kyser said her family loves the exclusive country club – which carries a $40,000 initiation fee and dues of $400 a month – and will remain.

“They’re stuck with us,” she said. “They might as well come to grips with us – we’re not going away and we’re not going to rest until this is done.”