City investigation into Crews Inn Tuesday trangender ban gets under way

A month after Crews Inn co-owner David Moore temporarily banned drag queens and transgender women from his bar if their appearance does not match their ID, protests continue and two formal complaints against Crews Inn are under investigation by the city.

This week, the Dallas Fair Housing office responded with a five-page letter to Ivana Tramp and Celeste William’s claims that Moore discriminated against them for being transgender on July 15. The letter outlines the review process for the complaint and says a final decision should be reached within 100 days.

At that time three options are possible. First, the city may find that the two have no claim and and the complaint will be dismissed.

“If they say that can’t do anything about it, I’ll know that the law is not equal to everybody,” Williams said.

The second option is something that the two have already tried to make happen — mediation. Williams said she has called Moore to set up a meeting two times but has not been able to speak with him.

“Now we are just going to wait for the city to mediate with him and us,” Tramp said. “All that we want is for him to make an official apology to the gay community for his discriminatory actions.”

But if the city did mediate, that is not likely to happen because, the letter says, “In mediation, the respondent does not admit any wrongdoing. Instead, the respondent agrees to perform certain actions which will help to prevent this type of complaint in the future.”

The other issue with mediation is that Moore has already said since the mid-July event that everyone is welcome back in his bar — a claim that Williams and Tramp aren’t so quick to believe.

“This happened three years ago to another transgender woman, what’s to say it won’t start happening again once all of the attention goes away?” Williams said.

Moore claims that three years ago he threw out transgender performer Sierra Nicole Standridge because he thought she was someone else who had previously misbehaved in the bar.

The third option after the complaints are investigated is prosecution. According to the letter, the city attorney may find that there is “reasonable cause and mediation has not been successful.” If that happens the city attorney may seek criminal prosecution, and if found guilty, Moore and other co-owner, Terry Ann Seabolt, would have to pay $500 fines for each instance of discrimination.

“To him that’s nothing,” Williams said. “He will probably do this again. But at least this is making it known. In the gay community, I don’t think a lot of people really knew he was like this before. It’s also making Moore aware that the city is watching him.”

While the fate of these two complaints is still unsure, the city attorney’s office doesn’t have the best track record at prosecuting these cases. City records show that of 22 employment discrimination complaints have been filed under Dallas’ non-discrimination ordinance since it took effect in 2002, but none have been prosecuted.

Only one resulted in a “mediated resolution.” And three were considered to be in the wrong jurisdiction.

(In the Sep. 19 issue of Dallas Voice, news editor John Wright will have a story examining why none of the complaints have been prosecuted so far.)

But for now, hopes remain high for Williams, Tramp and their supporters.

“I’m happy about it so far,” Williams said. “The lady that has been dealing with me is really keeping me informed and is on top of it.”

Station 4 performer Crystal Summers and Standridge also planned to file complaints, but have not done so yet. Standridge has been out of state due to family issues and hopes to file next week. Summers could not be reached for comment.

Moore also could not be reached for comment about the complaints.



This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition August 15, 2008.