LGBT media outlet The Advocate picked up the story this week of a group of transgender women who were asked to never return to North Portland bar the P-Club.
According to a report on our local FOX affiliate, a group of trans ladies went to the P-Club regularly every Friday night for two years. Then, last week, the bar’s owner left a surprising voicemail for one of the women, which she happily played for both media outlets and the state Bureau of Labor and Industries.
“Hello, my name is Chris. I’m the owner of the P-Club Bar and Grill,” says the voicemail, according to the story. “Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, I’m going to have to ask for you, Cass and your group, not to come back on Friday nights. People think that A) we’re a tranny bar, or B) that we’re a gay bar. We are neither. People are not coming in because they just don’t want to be here on a Friday night now.”
Wow. The state is now investigating the bar as potentially discriminating against customers. But if the voicemail holds up under scrutiny, this will be a unique case because of how blatant the discrimination is. Transgender people report feeling discriminated against often, but often discrimination is hard to prosecute because it can sometimes only be seen in statistics like pay grades or housing rental tendencies. To have someone actually come out and say—in a recorded voicemail—that someone is not welcome as a customer because they’re transgender, well, that’s a rare case of discrimination that’s going to be hard to argue against.
“circumstances beyond my control”?? what the hell are those?
WOW! FUCK P-CLUB!!!!!
Shut the place down
I think Cass and her friends just got a bar to run however they like, ’cause they’re gonna own that place.
Those “circumstances beyond my control” he’d be referring to would be that it is his potential CUSTOMERS that are discriminating and not coming to his business since he’s been giving service to these folks for some time and the patrons coming in got this impression and spread this perception to others who in turn discriminate against and do not visit P-Club.
He’s losing business, that’s where this stems from is my guess. Now all of you want this guy and everyone he employs to lose their livelihood because their possible customer base is discriminating against them and their regular Friday night patrons who happen to be trans.
Nobody comes up smelling like roses here.
@cz: you’re assuming he is actually losing business because he has had customers who are trans. How much business has been lost? What were the number of customers three years ago compared to last month? What was his revenue and how did that change? And if he did lose business, was there nothing else that changed, other than serving some trans customers? Did he never have trans customers until two years ago? What would you have trans customers do in order to “smell like roses?” – never go out?
“”People Think We’re a Tranny Bar.””
He also, used a derogatory term. Which says, he is a bigot.
@Jill, you make a good point. Thought I had a reasonable assumption there from the way things sounded. Like it wasn’t just the owner that was discriminating.
Also, I guess I should have expected the ‘dislikes’ since people pointing fingers don’t care to have fingers pointed back at them.
Anyway, you’re right about not knowing the amount of actual business gain/loss in hard numbers, but I wonder why this has come up now when the guy might have refused service earlier on? Something is weird about that.
I wouldn’t have the trans patrons do anything, I was too quick and should have excluded them as they are the only ones in this ugly situation smelling clean. The owner has named himself captain killjoy here.
@Amber, you’re right, the perjorative usage does flag him as such.
@jake, didn’t know that area had that kind of reputation. Interesting, but no less messed-up.
Oh sweet, that’s right in my hood! Now there’s one less place to go in this desert.
This guy and the owner of CC Slaughters should start a joint venture.
No one ever said how they were dressed, or how they were acting. How did he know they were trans?
I have known a lot of transgirls and theydress likw whores and act like sluts, not like a lady at all. If I am ina club and they are acting like that, I just leave. I have been going in straight clubs for over 20 years and never had a problem, as I always act like the lady that I am.
Oh yes, I fought at Stonewall in 1968 for our rights. I am a transsexual, having my surgery in 1977.
@Brenda: Not all trans people have passing privilege. Voice is one of the hardest things to master. You’re right, no one mentioned how they were dressed. But if it is a regular group of trans women on Friday nights, I would bet that quite a few had voices that are not unmistakably female. I won’t say they have voices ‘like whores’. To do so would be blaming the victim. I won’t make assumptions that trans people are bad people, just because they are trans.
re: Stonewall – thank you for your service. Just realize – the job isn’t done yet.
I’ve been there many times, so I’m having a REALLY tough time wrapping my head around this. The group was usually pretty drunk, but they kept to themselves. Once a girl passed out at the table- but that’s not a “tranny” problem, it’s a “kind of person you are when you’re drunk” problem.
Jill, You are so right about thier voices. I never gave that a thought, as I didn’t have that problem. I guess I was pretty lucky that I was able to pass and talk without detection in my era. And yes Jill, my job is not done as I am forever fighting for our safety and rights.
Maybe the problem was more personal than conveyed in this article. Seems odd that the owner would have her phone number to leave a voice mail on…
It makes me sad to think that despite how angry I want to be with the owner of this bar, he might not actually be wrong… It’s not hard to believe that people very likely did choose to steer clear of the P-Club just because they felt uncomfortable with these women being there. I certainly don’t feel that he took correct action in banishing these poor ladies, nor do I think that it’s acceptable for people to consider an establishment “a gay or tranny bar” just because there are some select customers who happened to be transwomen. In fact, I find that even the use of the word “tranny” to be incredibly disrespectful and incredibly offensive. This is not happy news, not happy not news at all:-(…
I agree with vanseye.. there’s more than meets the eye going on here