Gay Bar’s Human Rights Violation Settled, Kinda

A straight woman has settled her human rights complaint against Bar Le Stud, a Montréal gay bar.

Audrey Vachon sat down in the bar last spring to have a beer with her father, but was promptly informed that women were not welcome and was escorted from the establishment. (You know, because us gays would never complain if someone kicked us out of a straight bar just for being who we are, apparently.)

While it’s great that the two parties have settled, it sounds like the bar may not have learned its lesson. When the Globe and Mail contacted Le Stud following the settlement announcement, staff refused to clarify whether or not they’ll serve women now.

As a gay Montrealer, I can’t imagine what the bar management is thinking. The notion that a woman enjoying a beer with her father in the afternoon would somehow make other patrons uncomfortable is not only downright nutty, but continuing to eject patrons based on their sex is a hypocritical violation of our Charter rights. As part of Montréal’s vibrant gay community, surely Le Stud’s management has once felt the sting of exclusion themselves.

I said it before, but it can use repeating: Gay-friendly doesn’t mean gays only.

• Gay bar settles complaint [Montréal Gazette]
• Gay bar settles human rights complaint [Globe and Mail]