“We can do that, we’re private property. We have the right to do that.”

That is what a bar owner down in Atlanta said to a trans-woman when she tried to enter the bar.

US: Atlanta bar openly refuses entry to trans woman ‘because we’re a private property’
Pink News
By Aaron Day
10th November 2013

The _________ Bar & Grill in Atlanta, Georgia, refused entry to Alissah Brooks on account of her gender identity.

Ms Brooks was told by security at the front entrance of the bar: “You can’t come in because you are a man.”

Caught on film, Brooks’ friends, drag performers Mariah Paris Balenciaga and Y’Marie Santiago, confronted the security team and manager who said they would not allow Brooks entrance.

The person holding the camera says: “Our friend was discriminated against by your security… the problem was she is transgender and he (the bouncer) denied her entry.”

The employee at the front entrance then interrupts: “What’s wrong with that?”

He added: “Yeah, we can do that. We have the right to be selective… We can do that, we’re private property. We have the right to do that.”

Do you know why they cannot discriminate even through it is private property?

It is because they are a “public accommodation” that mean they serve the public and they cannot discriminate against protected classes. In Atlanta that included trans-people, the city has an ordinance banning discrimination based on gender identity or expression.

Public accommodation is defined as,

Privately-owned/operated businesses and buildings. Privately-owned businesses and facilities that offer certain goods or services to the public -- including food, lodging, gasoline, and entertainment -- are considered public accommodations for purposes of federal and state anti-discrimination laws. For purposes of disability discrimination, the definition of a "public accommodation" is even more broad, encompassing most businesses that are open to the public (regardless of type).

Since the bar is open to the public they must serve the whole public. Substitute “black” for transgender, the bar wouldn’t be able to discriminate against them because race is a protected class and gender identity is also a protected class.

The bar owner is now claiming that they denied her access because her driver license did not match her gender identity. In a statement the bar owner said to the Huffington Post,

This was not an issue of discrimination or any of the sort the rules are we have the right to entry for any circumstances not only because of their gender, race, or etc. And as you see we check ID's and on the ID it says male yet dressed as a woman and we are not able to prove if that's the person she says she is. The individual is providing false identification so we as a private property have the right to deny entry to anybody again not because of their sexual preference. If you have any sort of contact I would like to speak to them in person. And tell them to stop badgering my business or I will be forced to take legal action. Thank You.

But that is not what was recorded on video, on the video he said,

As seen in the above video [below], when the individual filming the incident explains to an employee of the bar and grill that Brooks is transgender and was denied entry, a man reportedly affiliated with ________ responds, "What's wrong with that?" He then adds, "We can do that -- we have the right to be selective. We can do that. We’re a private property."

In Georgia you cannot change the gender marker on your driver license until you have surgery, which can lead to incidents like this since medically we are required to live on our true gender for one year before we are eligible for surgery and also for many trans-people the cost of surgery is prohibitive or the may have medical reasons that prevent them from having surgery.