Portland bar owner ordered to pay $400,000 to transgender group he asked to stay away from his venue
A Portland bar owner has been told that he must pay $400,000 in damages to a group of transgender customers that he asked to stay away from his venue.
The Oregon Court of Appeals yesterday upheld an earlier ruling that the owner of the Twilight Room Annex, formerly known as the Portsmouth Club, must pay the money.
He had earlier been offered the opportunity to apologize but had decided to appeal and fight the decision instead.
The dispute dates back to 2012, when the venue’s owner, Chris Jenner, told a group known as the Rose City T-Girls not to return to his bar.
The group, according to court papers, is, ‘An informal social group that includes straight people, married couples, nonmarried couples, males who identify as females, cross-dressers, males who have physically transitioned to females, lesbians, and gay males.’
He left voicemail messages for Cassandra Lynn, the group’s founder, saying: ‘Hello, my name is Chris. I’m the owner of the P-Club Bar and Grill. 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.’
The group complained to Oregon’s Labor commission, and in 2013, the venue was investigated – and subsequently fined – by the Bureau of Labor and Industries for violating the state’s non-discrimination law.
The Rose City T Girls – which includes 11 complainants – then asked for a mediated settlement, saying that their dispute wasn’t about money and that all they wanted was an apology from Jenner.
However, he refused and instead decided to appeal the decision. He did not, however, appeal the monetary penalty.
In early 2014, the state began to seize Jenner’s bank accounts and assets in an effort to recover the money. The Annex subsequently closed its doors to business in April 2014 but its owner continued to fight the decision through the Appeals Court.
According to Associated Press, Jenner’s attorney argued that – in contrast to bakeries that have declined to make cakes for same-sex weddings – his client did not bar the women but had merely expressed a desire that they did not return to his venue.
‘Originally, the Rose City T-Girls approached his business and asked if this is going to be a problem and they said, “No.”
‘In essence, he was going back to them and saying, “This is a problem for my business.” We think he’s got a constitutional right to make that inquiry.’
However, the Appeals Court disagreed. It’s ruling can be read here.
Within it, it says, Penner’s request that the T-Girls ‘not to come back’ could be rightly interpreted as meaning that they were unwelcome at the club, and that they were not allowed to meet at the club any longer because of their sexual orientation.
‘When Penner left the voicemails for Lynn, he was verbally barring her and the T-Girls from the P Club on Friday nights.’
Main image: Michael Silberstein, licensed via Creative Commons 2.0
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David Hudson
