Aliza Libman writes on ...

on News of the Wacky

Political correctness has killed the bar and club industry of New Jersey.

Yesterday, the top civil rights official of New Jersey ruled in favour of a man named David Gillespie, who sued a nightclub for “discrimination”. The reason? Gillespie alleged, and the judge agreed, that “ladies nights” at clubs and bars discriminate against men, who are forced to pay more for their drinks, and pay a cover charge when women get in for free.

Is this true? Yes.

Is it ridiculous? Of course.

Now it is illegal for a club in New Jersey to have a ladies night. Associated Press reports that the governor of New Jersey was critical of this decision, calling it “bureaucratic nonsense”. This makes sense, as he is the person most responsible for making New Jersey economically sound, and the judge there has just given him the equivalent of an economic kick to the groin.

New Jersey is a small state. The bars there compete with each other, and in most cases, bars in nearby Delaware, New York and Pennsylvania. While Pennsylvania has a similar ban, bars in New York and Delaware that are smart will shortly be aggressively promoting their ladies nights, and presumably drawing large chunks of the Jersey crowd, most of whom don’t mind driving half an hour to a bar in a nearby state.

Ladies like ladies nights because they get in for free and get cheap drinks. Many men like ladies nights because they pay less for their girlfriends to get in, the ladies nights draw large crowds, and if they are feeling sleazy and decide to buy a woman a drink, it’s cheaper.

The idiocy of this all is that this “huge victory” was won in the face of a world where discrimination against women is still rampant.

Women make less money than men. Women are elected to office less. Female movie stars get retired earlier than males do. Less women are university professors. Our esteemed leader, Lorna Marsden, is one of nine female university presidents in a country with 100 universities.

The States is no different.

So what has the state of New Jersey’s civil rights enforcement division taught us?

In the words of the funny man from Ikea -

You discriminate against men – that’s discrimination.

You discriminate against women – that’s ok.

- First published in the opinions section of York University's Excalibur, June 9, 2004

posted by Aliza @ 8:39 p.m.