Are Ladies Night Or Father’s Day Discounts Discrimination?
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t believe it’s discrimination if you offer specials to one sex or another. I’m not talking about open, blatant discrimination that’s meant to harm or raise a dispute; I’m talking about things that most of us take for granted.
Still, as we all know, California is different. The Unruh Civil Rights Act is a California law that prohibits discrimination by businesses, including in housing and public accommodations, based on characteristics such as age, ancestry, color, disability, national origin, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation.
The Unruh Act applies to public and private businesses, such as stores, restaurants, and barber shops. The law also protects the rights of individuals with disabilities to access public places, including streets, highways, and public transport.
The Unruh Act was enacted in 1959, alongside other civil rights laws in California that aimed to prohibit discrimination in employment and housing. Since then, additional state laws have expanded the list of protected classes to include up to 18 characteristics and banned sexual harassment and retaliation.
In 1985, the California Supreme Court determined that similar “ladies’ day” promotions at businesses such as car washes and nightclubs violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act of 1959.
Because of this ridiculous interpretation of that law, a popular restaurant in California’s Bay Area is closing after reaching a costly settlement in a discrimination lawsuit related to its “Ladies Night” promotion. Lima Restaurant, a family-run Peruvian eatery located in Concord, California—approximately 20 miles outside of Oakland—has announced that it will serve its final meal on New Year’s Eve due to the lawsuit regarding gender discrimination.
The restaurant has been open for nearly a decade and has held a weekly “Ladies Night” promotion, offering drinks and wine at half price for three hours to female patrons for several years.
Chef and owner John Marquez stated that last year’s lawsuit has cost his restaurant tens of thousands of dollars, significantly impacting the business’s cash flow.
Marquez told KRON-TV that we haven’t fully recovered from the recent discrimination lawsuit concerning our ladies’ night discount and the business’s rising operating costs.
“It’s a frivolous lawsuit that caused our downfall,” Marquez told ABC7 News. The news about Lima Restaurant’s impending closure was met with discontent from patrons.
Marquez believes the individuals behind the lawsuit are not local residents but rather “ambulance-chasing lawyers” looking to profit from the state’s law.
He’s correct. A vague law can be misinterpreted and used by any sleazy lawyer good at exploiting loopholes. So, enter Attorney Alfred Rava, a leftist wipe that ruins simple pleasures just for the sake of destroying them.
In 2003, Rava made headlines when he and another man successfully sued bars in the Gaslamp Quarter for being denied discounts during “ladies’ night.” According to a report by the Union-Tribune, seven area night spots agreed to pay them $125,000.
Using the Unruh Act, he has continued suing and collecting settlements — on hundreds, according to published reports. Earlier this year, the Fresno Grizzlies, a minor league baseball team and Single-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, faced a discrimination lawsuit. This was due to their “ladies’ night” promotion, which offered free admission to women last year.
The Fresno Grizzlies are facing a $5 million lawsuit, as reported by The Fresno Bee. The plaintiffs in this case are represented by Rava, who previously reached a $500,000 settlement with the Oakland Athletics in 2016 after filing a class-action lawsuit against the team regarding a Mother’s Day promotion that offered free plaid reversible bucket hats.
In 2009, ESPN columnist Rick Reilly criticized Rava over a lawsuit related to an Oakland A’s sun hat giveaway on Mother’s Day. Men were denied what Rava referred to as “fishing hats.” However, a settlement allowed them to receive $100 in cash and merchandise.
Reilly called Rava “as odorous as a bag of dyspeptic hamsters. He’s a greasy manipulator who has found a small leak in American law and stuck an open wallet under it.”
California is not the only state where courts have ruled that “ladies night” promotions may constitute illegal discrimination. Courts in New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, Iowa, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin have ruled on cases where gender-based promotions were deemed illegal.
Like you, I despise discrimination, but honoring mothers or fathers on a special day is not discrimination. It is honoring them for who they are, and having a ladies’ night just for the pure enjoyment of it is not discriminating against anyone.
This is the type of moronic wokeness that is destroying America. The fact that anyone would sue over something so innocently done is ridiculous. America needs a great gardener to weed out the trash that is choking the morale out of this country.
On January 20th, the gardener arrives.
