Bias Complaint Filed Against Miami Strip Club

A San Francisco lesbian couple has filed a complaint against a Miami strip club after they said they were denied entrance because they were not accompanied by a man.

Heather Cox and Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa, both 39, were vacationing in Florida when, on August 5, they decided to visit Dean's Gold for happy hour. Described as "the ultimate gentleman's club," Dean's Gold features female strippers. The couple, who've been together since 2002 and married three years ago, said they were shocked and degraded when they were denied entry.

Dean's Gold, which features scantily clad women in its ads, primarily caters to a straight male clientele. Cox and Otalvaro-Hormillosa said that the club's official policy of denying entry to "single ladies" who are not in the company of a man is discriminatory. The women have filed a discrimination complaint against the club with the Miami-Dade Commission on Human Rights.

"Equal is equal," Miami-based attorney Matthew Dietz told the Bay Area Reporter. Dietz is representing Cox and Otalvaro-Hormillosa. "The sex industry caters to anachronistic attitudes and people will pay to be 'treated like a man' in the Hugh Hefner mold. There is no valid reason why a man needs to accompany a woman to see a lesbian show."

The women said they should not have to explain why they wanted to go to the club.

"For me it was like feeling second-class," Otalvaro-Hormillosa, a doctoral student in theater and performance studies at Stanford, told the B.A.R.

"Do we really have to explain why we want to go?" asked Cox. "It's a free country. Sex and pleasure are essential to human nature. This is a civil rights issue."

Cox, a real estate agent, also spoke of how humiliated the couple felt at the treatment accorded to them.

"I walked away with my head down," she said.

The complaint filed against Dean's Gold states, "I believe that I have been subjected to unlawful discrimination based on my sex (female) and sexual orientation (homosexual) in violation of Chapter 760 of the Florida Statutes, as amended, and chapter 11A of the Miami-Dade code, as amended."

Chapter 760 states in part: "It is against the law to refuse accommodation or service to any person on the basis of race, color, creed, sex, national origin or physical disability."

Chapter 760 also applies these standards to membership in private clubs.

"Civil rights mostly neglect sexual behavior," Dietz pointed out. "To deny or belittle any human being for engaging in lawful sexual entertainment is demeaning. To make it the exclusive province of a man is primitive."

Cox and Otalvaro-Hormillosa are not yet sure if they'll seek monetary damages against Dean's Gold.

"We're asking for an end to the discrimination," Cox said. "From there we'll decide if we want to sue for damages."

Otalvaro-Hormillosa, whose story was published in a recent Miami New Times article, said that they've been hearing from other women who have had similar experiences.

"As queer people and women we've been harassed on the street," she said. "Throughout history in many cultures women have been abused because of being out on the street without a man."

Management of Dean's Gold did not respond to a phone call from the B.A.R. seeking comment.