Editing Shriners (section)

==Membership==
Historically, a Mason had to complete either the [[Scottish Rite]] or [[York Rite]] systems to be eligible for membership in the Shrine.<ref name="NYT1883">
{{cite news|url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1883/06/07/102828148.pdf |access-date= 2008-02-25|title= Abd El Kader's Masonic Friends|work= [[The New York Times]] |date= 1883-06-07|page= 8 }}</ref>

In 1991, [[Bricklayer|brick-mason]] Michael G. Vaughan filed a lawsuit against the Oleika Shrine Temple in [[Lexington, Kentucky]], for hazing practices to which he said he was subjected in his efforts to become a Shriner. In court, Vaughan told jurors that in June 1989, he was blindfolded and received a jolt of electricity that was applied to his bare buttocks as part of the Shriners' initiation rites. He said he was forced to walk on an electric mat that was meant to simulate the hot sands of the Sahara, and that he was knocked unconscious and received other injuries during his initiation. Vaughan said the initiation left him humiliated and embarrassed, and caused him to suffer anxiety, nightmares, and a sleep disorder.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1991-12-10-1991344146-story.html|title=Man sues Shriners over initiation injuries Trial exposes secret ritual in which electric shock is used on initiates.|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|access-date=14 December 2021}}</ref> After two hours of deliberation, the jury rejected the claim.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 13, 1991 |title=Jury Rejects Man's Claim He Was Hurt in Shriners' Initiation Rite |url=https://apnews.com/article/9f1560702c6c1c01e758ebf1b86f64ac |access-date=February 7, 2023 |website=AP NEWS |language=en}}</ref>