Hunters Nightclub in Elk Grove, Ill. is now imposing a new requirement that cross dressers must have a valid government-issued form of identification to enter the bar.
The Chicago bar is popular for cross dressers, but the new rule says “gender presentation” must be shown, meaning an identification showing the person dressed in drag must be presented.
Bar owner Peter Landorf told the Chicago Tribune the reason is because cross-dressing prostitutes were advertising on Craigslist and mentioning his bar.
“They’re implying they’re coming here,” Landorf said. “If it is prostitution in any form, that could cost me my liquor license.”
He said the new requirement could reduce the regular cross dressers at the bar.
Andy, a part-time transgender woman from Goshen, Ind., told the Chicago Tribune there are about a dozen or more cross dressers at the bar during Fridays and Saturdays.
However, he also feels it is just another form of discrimination.
“Since I am not a full-time trans, it is not really feasible for me to have my ‘femme’ photo on my license,” Andy said. “I do not even know if they would allow it. … This is discrimination, pure and simple.”
Andy travels to Chicago to be “Jeanette.”
“The fact is, if they are only requiring this of cross-dressers, that would be problematic, because it would single out cross-dressers or transsexuals for a special burden,” Ed Yohnka of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois told the Chicago Tribune.
Read the full article from the Columbus Dispatch.
-Kim Brown
