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Wang’s, a Chicago bar (with predominately gay male clientele) in the LGBT-friendly Boystown neighborhood is the latest bar under investigation by Illinois' Department of Human Rights based on reports that it bans female customers during its busiest hours.
More after the jump.
According to The Huffington Post, Wang’s has a sign hanging from its wall that states "Men Only After 11 p.m." The policy has angered many Chicago residents. Women have reported that they’ve been denied service, treated badly, and have been asked to leave during the bar’s busy hours.
While the bar denies the enforcement of the policy, it does bring an age-old question to the forefront: Where do women fit in gay bars?
It’s unlikely that any of us have missed (or made) the various complaints when women “invade our space” by cutting in front of us in line for booze or, heaven forbid, use our bars and clubs as a safe haven for their drunken bachelorette parties or a girl’s night out.
In a gay bar, there’s an implied hierarchy and we seem to expect women to fall in line with it (right behind us!).
But is that fair? Who’s to say?
It seems difficult to justify having an explicit policy barring women from a public establishment.
On the flip side, gay and straight men are denied entry to straight clubs and bars on a regular basis as women (typically attractive women) are given priority.
What do you think Instincters? Is the policy at bars like Wang’s right or wrong? If there’s a legal leg for them to stand on, should they even stand on it?
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There is also another underlying issue here... Boystown has been slowly but surely dimishing...the homes in the neighborhood are not owned by gay people...mostly straight people...so 10 years ago you saw nothing but boys in boystown, then these straight suburban women moved in, hung out, and as they aged they bought places in the area and started families...now they complain about the noise the window displays...and don't forget if you were not aware it was boystown when you moved in, because during the day it just looks like an average neighborhood ... you certainly became aware really fast at night. and if you have kids...you start to protest that you don't want your children exposed to things they shouldn't be...eventhought they knew what they were getting into when they bought...but if the majority of the neighborhood is straight...boystown could be taken over by straight establishments...and then it is over!!