Judge to anti-feminist: Ladies' night is all right

[September 30, 2008]  NEW YORK (AP) -- It's closing time for a lawsuit alleging ladies' nights at nightclubs discriminate against men. Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum tossed the lawsuit out of federal court in Manhattan on Monday. She said nightclubs can price their products as they wish because they're not acting as representatives of the state.

The lawsuit was brought by attorney Roy Den Hollander, who has crusaded against feminism and recently sued a university over its women's studies program.

Hollander said ladies' nights at Manhattan nightclubs discriminate against men by offering women free or discounted admission and drinks. He tried to link the state to the discounts because it licenses the sale of alcohol at nightclubs.

He called the judge a feminist and said her dismissal of his lawsuit was consistent with the discrimination embedded in many of America's institutions.

Nightclub attorneys said Hollander's lawsuit was frivolous. It sought to represent men over the age of 21 who entered Lotus, the China Club and several other New York nightclubs on a ladies' night since June 21, 2004.

The nightclubs said the prices charged to men aren't so burdensome that they amount to denying them entry and male customers actually might benefit from ladies' nights because so many women attend.

Hollander's lawsuit had asked the judge to conclude the clubs' policies violate the Constitution and to assess minor damages against them.

Last month, Hollander sued Columbia University, saying its women's studies program is discriminatory and unconstitutional because the school didn't have a comparable men's program.

Columbia University had no comment on that lawsuit.

[Associated Press; By LARRY NEUMEISTER]

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