Gay Aussie hotel wins right to ban heterosexuals, lesbians

[Francisco Montana]

An Australian hotel popular with gay men has won the right to refuse entry to heterosexuals and lesbians, officials and the owner said Monday.
The Peel Hotel in Melbourne won an exemption from the Equal Opportunity Act to prevent insults and abuse directed toward gays in its bars and nightclubs, owner Tom McFeely told AFP.

"The hotel predominantly markets itself towards homosexual males, towards gay men and we want to protect the integrity of the venue as well as continue to make the men feel comfortable," McFeely said.

"When large numbers of heterosexuals or even lesbians are in the hotel that changes the atmosphere and many gay men can feel uncomfortable."

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While I am all for gays having their places to have fun I can't help but fear this is a double standard and a potential slippery slope. Some of the wording could easily be turned around and used to argue old segregation laws here in the United States.

The whole thing gives me the willies.

Discuss.

[Gary88]

no i think the manager has every right. if people are going into his hotel and being abusive to his clients he has every right to get rid of them

[bdh]

no i think the manager has every right. if people are going into his hotel and being abusive to his clients he has every right to get rid of them

That ultimately has nothing to do with the law since its possible to be heterosexual and not insult people. The exemption is blatantly discriminatory because it presumes that heterosexuals would only attend this hotel to disrupt the normal activities for the homosexuals there.

Anyone can be abusive and disruptive, and that alone should be grounds for expulsion, not anything else.

[Noble Savage]

The whole thing gives me the willies.

Discuss.

Hee Hee, ohhh thats too easy .sorry poor taste

[Enemy of the State]

Ok seriously, what straight guy goes into a gay bar? What if his friends catch him? How would he explain it?
"Oh im not gay, not at all. I just like to hang out in gay bars"

A stupid double standard. I thought banning people from services because of race, religion and sexuality ended a long time ago. Guess now it just turned around, even if it is really weird in my opinion for a straight guy to go into a gay bar anyway.

[Francisco Montana]

If heterosexuals and lesbians are not allowed that means no women, period.

Another question comes to mind: How do you know who is straight and who is gay? :hmmm:

I know some straight guys that are very afeminate and some gay guys that are very butch.

As for why a straight guy may want to go in: My wife and I have several gay friends. What if we wanted to hang out with our friends who might happen to be staying there?

If it's simply a matter of 'protecting' the guests from abusive straights, well, that's already a policy on every establishment on the planet. If you go into any restaurant, shop, hotel, library, anything and disrupt the business and threaten the guests (customers) you are tossed out.

This is absurd.

[Odovacar]

If heterosexuals and lesbians are not allowed that means no women, period.

Thats where feminism comes in. Hurrah, spare no one, feminist warriors!

Hmm...just hetero males or hetere females as well are banned? If just males I sense some hidden agenda in these rules. Maybe these men are not that gay they pretend to be

This is absurd.

Yes. very. But nowadays...Anyway I never planned to visit gay clubs.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Yeah, I heard about that. Hypocritical for obvious reasons, and shouldn't be happening. Not that I should think many heterosexual men are attempting to get into this place.

[llib]

Full Article

While I am all for gays having their places to have fun I can't help but fear this is a double standard and a potential slippery slope. Some of the wording could easily be turned around and used to argue old segregation laws here in the United States.

The whole thing gives me the willies.

Discuss.

It depends. It could be ok if it is in fact club, but if it is hotel, I don't think so. I believe it would be decided this way here(CZ). But it really depends on local laws.

[Gary88]

That ultimately has nothing to do with the law since its possible to be heterosexual and not insult people. The exemption is blatantly discriminatory because it presumes that heterosexuals would only attend this hotel to disrupt the normal activities for the homosexuals there.

Anyone can be abusive and disruptive, and that alone should be grounds for expulsion, not anything else.

one assumes it isnt an across the board 'Gays Only' with no one else allowed (for one how would you enforce that?) but rather any heterosexuals who cause trouble or are in big groups can be turned away for the sake of his other customers.

[bdh]

one assumes it isnt an across the board 'Gays Only' with no one else allowed (for one how would you enforce that?)

Enforceability has nothing to do with the law. How would one enforce 'straight only' and thats illegal. Just look at the text.

but rather any heterosexuals who cause trouble

Anyone causing trouble, no matter their sexual orientation can already be expelled.

or are in big groups can be turned away

Thats blatantly wrong.

for the sake of his other customers.

So should homosexuals be banned from 'straight' bars? If you start that up, you've opened the door to a segregated society.

[Poisoner]

The white hetrosexual male is screwed.

Reverse discrimination is real!

[Oswald von Wolkenstein]

Well it gave him the willies on a slippery slope

anyway -- this is just bs -- if a christian hotel banned gays because they make their memebers fell uncomfortable there would be an outrageous uproar and cries of oppression.So they don't have a single moral justification to stand on and this is totally hypocritical -- but also comical. Most of the people who went there before and are not gay probably didn't know it was a "gay" hotel and now that the hotel defined itself as "gay" they would go anyway, so this kind of a case of banning people who don't want to come anyway.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Ironically though gay bars are genuinely good places to find women - they go there so they can dance without getting groped. Not something I would ever do, though.

Can't dance.

[Gary88]

Well it gave him the willies on a slippery slope

anyway -- this is just bs -- if a christian hotel banned gays because they make their memebers fell uncomfortable there would be an outrageous uproar and cries of oppression.So they don't have a single moral justification to stand on and this is totally hypocritical -- but also comical. Most of the people who went there before and are not gay probably didn't know it was a "gay" hotel and not that they hotel defined itself as "gay" they would go anyway, so this kind of a case of banning people who don't want to come anyway.

if gay people went into a christian hotel and where abussive or inflamatory to the other guests then the manager has every right.

[Justinian]

if gay people went into a christian hotel and where abussive or inflamatory to the other guests then the manager has every right.

Yes, the manager would have every right, but if he tried to do this he would get attacked as a bigot and a homophobe and probably lose his job and his establishment ... but if a bar wants to kick out all heterosexuals and even lesbians "because they make our guests uncomfortable", and it's all good, how is that at all different?

A predominantly white bar trying to ban blacks because they make the guests "uncomfortable", wouldn't THAT be viewed as racist and wrong? Why the double standard? This makes it seem like all the hard work gay rights activists have put in to be viewed as equal has gone to waste.

[the Black Prince]

gay bars and hotels in the UK weren't exempt from the Equality Act legislation... so they cannot, in law, refuse entry to straight people.

generally though, very few hotels would anyway, the ones that specified strictly gay only, as opposed to gay friendly tended to be ones that ran activities that weren't, strictly speaking, the normal kind of thing that goes on in a "hotel".

of other gay hotels, how many straight people would go near them? I know of one family who booked into the Holywood International in Manchester, not knowing its nickname was "Queens" for a reason... they didn't stay very long. Gay people are used to being in the minority, we don't mind being surrounded by straight people kissing... straight people seem to find it disconcerting.


as for clubs, my local gay bar advertises as Gay Friendly, plenty of straight people come there.... my ex-boss even tells me he's seen my sister there! The ones that used to be gay only now can do one of two things... go back to being members only clubs, coz how many straight people are gonna get membership to a gay bar, or go there often enough to use it, or apply from an objectively justified exemption based on security. Security is the principle reason why most clubs are gay only. they don't want drunk straight people starting fights there. The biggest gay club in essex isn't even known to most essex people. its strictly underground invitation only. simply because essex is well known as the most homophobic county in england.

i echo ferrets points though... with one exemption... most of the straight women don't actually mind being groped when its a gay man doing it! trust me, i know! Ah, the joy of fag hags...

[Lord Bohemond]

Like Oswald said, this is pc hypocrisy. Only protected minority groups are allowed to discriminate.

[Gary88]

well straight bars dont really exist

[Lord Bohemond]

Maybe not "official" straight bars, but I think a bar filled with straight people would qualify as a 'straight bar'.