I Have to Be Transphobic to Protect Myself!

Gay bar has new ID rule for cross-dressers:

A gay bar in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village says cross-dressers who wish to drink there will now have to show a valid photo ID that matches the gender they are dressed as.

Manager Peter Lansdorf says Hunters Nightclub reluctantly imposed its new ID requirement because cross-dressing prostitutes were advertising on Craigslist and mentioning his tavern as a place they hung out.

Lansdorf concedes that the new rule could cut into the club's substantial transvestite clientele, but says prostitution of any form could cost him his liquor license.

Spokesman Ed Yohnka of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois says the new ID requirement may possibly be a violation of the Illinois Human Rights Act.

Ya think?

Now, here's the thing: I've actually been to Hunter's, and it's a huge place, with a big indoor area with multiple spaces and a big outdoor area (open and accessible when the weather permits, which is about half the year). If Lansdorf is genuinely worried about prostitution going on at Hunter's, he needs to hire more staff to cover the club's expansive footprint. Because, first of all, what we're really talking about isn't just solicitation, but sex acts occurring on the premises, which occasionally happens, paid or otherwise. And, secondly, that ain't limited to trans patrons, some of whom might be the only ones advertising their presence at Hunter's, but almost certainly aren't the only ones tricking there.

(Note again: Some of whom. Barring all trans patrons because one or two may be engaging in criminal activity is just absurd, apart from everything else.)

But Lansdorf isn't, I suspect, genuinely worried about prostitution; I suspect he's genuinely worried about some ads in Craigslist having caught the attention of the media and/or the cops, and he wants to look like he's doing something to fix the problem—because an undercover bust at Hunter's is going to lose him a lot more clientele than turning away trans patrons is. So he's throwing his trans patrons under the bus.

And what he needs to do instead is work with ACLU Illinois to figure out a solution that isn't hostile to trans people, and, in the process, explore why it is that a gay club needs to be worried about ads on Craigslist when straight clubs advertised as meet-up places by straight female sex workers don't.

[H/T to Shaker TheDeviantE.]