Drag Queens Barred From Gay Dallas Club

Crews Inn, a gay bar in Dallas, instituted a policy on July 15 prohibiting drag queens and transgender women from admittance on Tuesday nights.

“Drag queens act like they are divas and think they can do no wrong,” said bar co-owner David Moore to the Dallas Voice. “They have stolen money straight off the bar, hassled customers for drinks, and locked themselves in the bathroom with a bunch of guys. And with Tuesday being our busiest night, there is just no way for me to keep the drag queens under control then. I don’t want drag queens in here that are going to misbehave.”

“It’s kind of like I’m a positive role model in the community,” said local drag performer Ivana Tramp to the Voice. “It wasn’t like I was there hammered or begging people to buy me a drink. I felt like it was very embarrassing and degrading.”

Tramp and other performers are consulting attorneys about the legality of the ban and plan to take legal action.

“I’m not sure if it is legal or not, but if they are acting stupid, I have that right under TABC [Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission],” Moore told the Voice. “As a bar owner, we have the right to refuse service to anyone.”

Moore also believes it is legally permissible to bar drag queens because a customer’s appearance must match his or her picture ID.

Tramp plans to picket Crews Inn on Tuesday night, July 22. The group is expecting 50 to 100 performers and fans to show up. (The Advocate)

Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

Name: Daniel Williams
Date posted: 2008-07-28 10:20 AM
Hometown: Dallas, TX

Comment:

After the protest last week the owner has modified the policy; he now says that if a gender non-normative person [my term] comes and talks with him, and promises to behave, he'll let them in. Imagine making people beg to custom his business! Before Stonewall it was illegal in New York State to serve alcohol to homosexuals because they were thought to not be able to control themselves. Tell me how this is any different? As for "he has a right to deny service": Dallas has a public accommodation law that covers gender identity. There is legal action underway, what amazing how many people in the Gay community just don't care. For everyone who listened to what the protesters had to say and turned around last Tuesday, there was someone else who just went on in. We have to stand up for our entire community, and I hope to see everyone who reads this and lives in the Dallas Area every Tuesday night until there's an apology!

Name: Rev. Deborah J Lipsitz
Date posted: 2008-07-25 1:52 AM
Hometown: Southern California

Comment:

Like the article says, the business has the right to refuse service to anyone, for any reason, and for no reason at all. By that same logic, customers themselves may choose to patronize or not any business they choose, for any reason or no reason at all. I for one will never patronize any business owned by those who have discriminatory policies, whether towards customers, their own employees, or through their association with others who have such policies and practices. Anyone who patronizes such businesses is saying they approve of the bigotry and hatred being promoted, and supporting it with their money.

Name: Outersider
Date posted: 2008-07-24 8:58 AM
Hometown: Phoenix

Comment:

I agree with the bar owner that drag queens need to be reigned in a bit. While I am one of the first to stand up for glbt rights, I've seen too much of exactly what he's seen. Drag culture is NOT a culture that everyone in the glbt community is comfortable with, nor should they be. While I've known many good drag queens, the bad outnumber the good. Most have an ego the size of Manhattan and do think that they can do no wrong. Sorry gals but being a thief, liar and obnoxious asshole don't make you the kind of person I would choose to be around. So to have one night of the week free of you would be great. Sure wish a bar here would do that.

Name: Terre
Date posted: 2008-07-23 3:30 PM
Hometown: San Luis Obispo

Comment:

The mistake the bar made was to exclude a group of people, in this case drag queens. Ejecting individual jerks is fine. Refusing service to a group is discrimination. The real problem was drunken thieves, which does not accurately describe all drag queens, all Mexicans, all teenagers [whatever the group]. Discrimination by people who are gay but not drag queens against drag queens, is as wrong as discrimination by people who are not gay against gays. This decision and the reaction also elevated the situation to a public squabble between gays and queens who hang around in bars. Not the stuff of role models, despite Tramp's claim. On one hand this story adds to the stereotypes. On the other, it shows nuance among the "gay community" and that's usually good. Unfortunately, this situation is tainted and will not generate good will.

Name: Rico Camacho
Date posted: 2008-07-23 3:20 PM
Hometown: San Francisco

Comment:

I have to agree with the writer who said that you should punish the INDIVIDUAL - Not the Group of Drag Queens at Large. This is exactly the type of stereotyping that we are fighting against OUR community at large. If the world wants to ban Gay People because they create separate rules for us than that of straight people - how are going to win this fight. We need to stand together in a UNIFIED voice to fight ALL discriminaton. I have to disagree with the tactic. To use this Law of Baring people on the Right to Refuse will cause the larger community of bar owners to implement this Law on all of us in the Gay Community.

Name: Paul
Date posted: 2008-07-23 3:18 PM
Hometown: San Diego, CA

Comment:

I see so many responses saying the bar owner is within his rights. The bar owner himself makes the most damning statement. He states the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission permits him to refuse service to anyone. AnyONE is the key word here. He cannot refuse service to an entire category or class of people. If he said, "Oh, those Hispanics come in and cause trouble every Tuesday, I'll ban them," no one would say it's within his rights. You have to deal with problems on an individual basis. Is he scapegoating because he's not providing enough security to deal with a handful of trouble makers? That may be the real issue. Don’t be fooled to let these issues divide us. Until we all have equality, none of us have equality.

Name: Angry in Michigan
Date posted: 2008-07-23 3:16 PM
Hometown: Orange, Texas

Comment:

I am not into the drag scene and neither is my partner. We know several and think they are a trip. While we prefer a night out with the boys too as opposed to dealing with the drag scene and transgender women - when you start discriminating against one sub culture of our community, you actually dsicriminate against all of us. We're having a hard enough time convincing society that we are regular people and it's really no one's business who we share our beds with as it is. This policy could set us back in our fight for equality. If I still lived in the Dallas area, I would have no choice but to boycott the bar and it was one of my favorites the summer I lived there as an internship for my graduate degree.

Name: Lamont
Date posted: 2008-07-23 3:05 PM
Hometown: Louisville

Comment:

You are correct, the owner has a duty and an obligation to protect his patrons from thieves and people that harrass patrons for drinks. The solutions is not to bar ALL of one group. The solution is to bar the INDIVUAL that steals, or the INDIVIDUAL(s) that beg for drinks or display any other disturbing behavior. In the bar I managed we kept a camera and we took a picture of people that were barred from the place and prominently posted those pictures at all doors. This sounds a lot like the bar owner in San Francisco who barred all Blacks from his bars because they were all drunks, thieves, and trouble makers, poor and hassled people to buy them drinks. Imagine that, all Blacks fit this behavior.

Name: Grace
Date posted: 2008-07-23 1:42 PM
Hometown: Unfortunately, Maine

Comment:

Robert, "Its hard enough for society to swollow the normalcy of homsexuality, even when there is plenty of support, but when you toss drag queens in the mix and other gender benders." Why is it somehow okay to discriminate against people for what's *in* their pants instead of *who* they open their pants for? It's pretty offensive, Robert. I'm sorry if I come off as angry. I am. You should be, too, because this bar owner is assuming that the insecurity of the gay community will allow him to discriminate against a part of it that's easily marginalized. Humans should have respect from others, regardless of how they're dressed and whether they're "femme" or "butch", and regardless of their plumbing. Period.

Name: Mark
Date posted: 2008-07-23 11:48 AM
Hometown: Omaha

Comment:

C'mon folks. This is NOT about discrimination. The bar owner is well within his rights to protect his patrons and his establishment from thieves, drunks, and jerks. He has the right to refuse service to anyone, just as any other bar or restaurant owner. If you're drunk, you don't have the 'right' to be served more drinks. If you steal, you don't have the 'right' to sit at the bar. If you accost the patrons, you don't have the 'right' to be in the place. The one thing I wish he had done differently is specifically target the people who were causing problems, instead of treating the whole class of cross-dressed people as though they were at fault. But it is HIS place, and HIS rules. Just because you're dressed as a queen doesn't mean you get to act like a bitch.

Name: Daniel
Date posted: 2008-07-23 7:41 AM
Hometown: Fort Lauderdale

Comment:

Texas, like most of the South, has very backward laws concerning the GLBT community. In Dallas, gender identity is not a protected class, even though sexual orientation is. I was witch hunted out a good job in Alaska when I worked for NorthRim Bank after I wore makeup and heels to my company Xmas party. Sometimes when you live in a red state, there's little you can do legally when you are treated as a second class citizen. This bar owner probably hates the fact that drag queens express a persona that many gay men WISH they could get away with in society. Bigotry can come from anyone: sometimes gay people are MORE prejudiced and judgmental with each other than we imagine straight people to be. Shame on this bar owner for promoting segregation and that disgusting discrimination that Republicans promote against us to get votes.

Name: Kevin Olomon
Date posted: 2008-07-23 6:42 AM
Hometown: Bloomington, IL.

Comment:

If a business owner doesn't wish to do business w/ the public they need to operate a private club. In a public operation, this club owner refusing to serve a drag queen is just as wrong as if a straight club owner were attempting to do the same. Don't want customers liquored-up in your establishment? CUT THEM OFF! Simple. I'm all for gay equality, but I never want to be confused for a straight citizen. Accepting myself and coming out was far too difficult for me just to blend-in and try to be/look as everyone else. As far as I'm concerned, a gay bar isn't a gay bar without a few drag queens, leather-daddies and foo-foo bois runnin' around. If I wanted "normal" I'd go to a hotel lounge! (this, from a 400 lb. bearded, flannel-shirt wearin' chub!)

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