Chicago Area Gay Bar: Your Perceived Gender Must Match The One On Your ID

Saying that transsexual prostitutes were using Craigslist to hook up at his bar, the owner of the Chicago-area Hunters Nightclub has ordered that all patrons must have an ID listing a gender which matches their appearance.

Under the new admission rule, cross-dressers must have a government-issued photo ID that looks like the person presenting it at the bar. That, of course, is a serious hurdle for people like Andy, a "part-time transgender woman" who lives in Goshen, Ind., but goes to Chicago to "dress" as Jeanette. The ID requirement is unfair, he said. "Since I am not a full-time trans, it is not really feasible for me to have my 'femme' photo on my license," he said. "I do not even know if they would allow it. ... This is discrimination, pure and simple." And, according to Ed Yohnka, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, it could be. "The fact is, if they are only requiring this of cross-dressers, that would be problematic because it would single out cross-dressers or transsexuals for a special burden," Yohnka said. "Under the Illinois Human Rights Act, they can't do that."

The bar regularly features drag entertainment and the owner says he's willing to consider sanother solution.