Gay bars, property rights and anti-discrimination legislation
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5:14am Today | Edit Note | Delete
Background
In the last day or so it has surfaced that a gay bar in Victoria has been granted an exemption from anti-discrimination legislation so that it can now deny access to anyone who is not a homosexual male. The reasons given were because heterosexual males and homosexual females "insult and deride and are even physically violent towards the gay male patrons", and because heterosexual females were coming in because they found homosexual males entertaining and regarded them as a "zoo exhibit".
In 2005 Scruffy Murphy's in Sydney also decided to ban certain patrons (in this case those of Middle Eastern or Islander appearance) for similar reasons (i.e. because the owner felt they were initiating violence), and the pub was found to be in breach of anti-discrimination legislation.
My Fundamental View
I believe that both pubs should be allowed to have whatever door policies they want, and, indeed, so should anywhere else.
On a principled basis I believe this because the pub is private property, and one of the most fundamental rights in owning property is the ability to say who can and can't enter it.
On a practical basis, following the bans. we have one of two situations arising:
1. The pubs fears are founded, and certain demographics do cause trouble. The ban leads to a safer pub, with no broken chairs or tables and a greater patronage from those who aren't being excluded because they enjoy the pleasant atmosphere.
2. The fears are unfounded, and the owners are just bigots. The atmosphere in the pub remains exactly the same, so no more of the non-excluded demographics are likely to attend, and the whole venture becomes less profitable. Ergo, the owner loses money for their bigotry.
It is here that many people will think I'm suggesting we reinstate apartheid, but if this is the case then you've taken situation 1, thereby assuming that some groups of people will always create fights when put together. Ergo you've taken your own bigotted premise, put it through my argument, and acted shocked when the conclusion was also discriminatory.
In the real world, more often than not, we see situation 2, and those who have racist/homophobic/heterophobic door policies will be outcompeted by those owners with a level head. The result is a more open and inclusive society where people can go just about anywhere they want without being made to feel unwelcome through more passive forms of discrimination. This can be applied to discrimination legislation in general (e.g. workplace), and I'll probably write a note on this at some later date when I have time to do some proper research on the topic and dredge up some examples.
What should happen now
Unifrom governance is perhaps the most important step towards true equality of opportunity, and this means neither minorties, nor the majority, should get special status under the law. As such the Victorian government should have rejected the application for an exemption, and instead sat down and considered the laws as a whole, and whether they really foster the inclusiveness that they set out to create.