I live in Quebec, here, the law allows any person over 18 years old to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and enter the bars.
Now, in the region here, a new bar opened that, on some selected nights only alows people over 21 to come in. Which resulted and a couple of friends of mine being refused entry…
So, isn’t discriminating someone because of his age against the law? Isn’t it the same as refusing someone because he’s black or because he’s jewish, or because of another personal characteristic or belief?
Also, sometimes they refuse people because they are under 21 but allow other ones that also are under 21 (mainly because they are beautiful young ladies). Isn’t that even more wrong?
oh my…is there any way of editing this post… I wrote it horribly!
“Which resulted and a couple of friends of mine being refused entry…” I meant “Which result of a couple of my friendsbeing refused entry”
A bar here in New Zealand tried to do this a couple years back but changed their policy after certain groups threatened legal action. It was never tested in the courts though.
The bar would argue that it is private property and that they have the right to admit or exclude anyone they goddam want to. I don’t think discrimination laws generally apply to private entities, except in certain defined situations (eg employment, tenancy.)
Also I understand that bars in the UK do this all the time.
As for admitting hot young females, yeah it sucks, what are you gonna do? Is it really worth fighting? My advice: find somewhere less stuck up to drink.
Well it does work the other way around sometimes. I once saw an older guy (by himself - no young hotties in tow) not allowed into a bar… almost certainly because he was dressed normal and was, well, an old guy (40ish). This place was letting in all kinds of peirced, tattooed, drugged-up and just plain goofy looking teenaged huddles - that’s the kind of business they wanted. Not off-duty cop lookin’ guys.
Legal, who knows? Worth the energy to get the law involved, no.
That’s rather common around these parts (Long Island, NY), where there are often such categories as ‘23 or over’ nights; ‘25 for men, 23 for ladies’ nights; and the ever popular ‘28+’ nights (which really means 30s and early 40s).
AFAIK, it’s perfectly legal, and rather accepted (as it’s somewhat unlikely that your average 21 yo wants to hang with those in their 40s.
Note that ‘age enforcement’ is quite lax, although I’ve been told that some ‘JDate’ events (which, BTW, would also be considered ‘Religious Discrimination’ i.e. for Jewish folk only) do proof, placing you in age bucket s(20s - 30s, 30s - 40s) as found necessary.
There actually is a law in NYS (no cite right now) that states no free drinks for the ladies; There used to be lots of Ladies nights around here, usually free admission for everyone and Ladies drank free (yea, toasted women) - the bar and club owners actually got together and petitioned NY to ban these nights by law (really), so that they wouldn’t have to compete with each other offering free-drinks ladies nights - Thanks, Pataki… (if I find a cite, I’ll post it…even if I’m wrong - which I’m not )
I have no idea how it might work in Quebec. In the U.S., there is no national law which would prohibit the situation described in the OP. Discrimination on the basis of race, sex, national origin, etc., is illegal because those categories are specifically enumerated in The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits places of public accomodation (such as bars and restaurants) from discriminating on the basis only of the categories listed in the statute. Age is not one of them. (Nor, BTW, is sexual orientation.) The U.S. does have federal age-discrimination legislation, but it only applies to employment, not places of public accomodation, and it only applies when an older person is discriminated against in favor of someone younger, not the other way 'round.
Individual states and localities are permitted to establish broader, more protective anti-discrimination measures. Therefore, it might be the case that some businesses in the U.S. are prohibited due to state or local law from acting as the bar in the OP does (ignoring for the time being the higher U.S. drinking age).
Cliffy is correct about US law, but I wanted to address just this portion of the OP:
In the US if one can establish a pattern of admitting women within a certain age group but not men, the bar may open itself up to a sex discrimination suit. We had a case a few years ago in Madison where it was ruled that “ladies’ night” drink specials where women drink free of for reduced prices not available to men are a form of sex discrimination. I have searched previously online for a cite and haven’t found one so I don’t know which court decided this or the scope of the ruling. A logical extension of this ruling would be that admitting hot 19 year-old women but not hot 19 year-old men is sex discrimination. Of course the bar has an easy defense; all it has to do is show that it excludes ugly 19 year-old women because discrimination based on physical appearance isn’t illegal.
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