Montreal woman
files complaint after being bounced from gay men's bar

A woman who was ejected last week from a men-only Montreal gay bar when trying to have a drink with her father issued a complaint to Quebec province's human rights tribunal. Audrey Vachon, 20, went to leather bar Le Stud to meet with her father, Gilles Vachon.

Audrey Vachon said that a server asked her to leave the establishment and told her it was strictly for men. The only night Le Stud allows women is on Ladies' Night Wednesdays.

"I would never presume to discriminate against a gay person. Why should this be allowed to happen to my daughter?" Gilles Vachon told the TorontoStar. "I was angry when this happened. We should probably have stayed and forced them to call the police to remove us."

Quebec's Gay Chamber of Commerce and Montreal's Societe de Developpement Commercial du Village (a business group representing Montreal's Village, where the bar is located) called on Le Stud to "respect the Quebec Charter of [Human] Rights and Freedoms," which bans discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation.

However, Societe executive director Bernard Plante said the woman's exclusion should be understood. "I dream of the day where I will be able to walk into a restaurant with my partner holding his hand and maybe giving him a kiss," Plante said in the article. "That's still not always possible in this day and age." (The Advocate)