EON

Montreal – A Montreal woman was surprised to discover that a local gay bar does not serve women.

Audrey Vachon and her father went for av drink at Le Stud in Montreal’s gay village where a waiter told her father, Gilles, that the bar does not serve women.

According to Vachon, the waiter refused to even look at her during the conversation.

“On the spot I didn’t believe it, I thought it was a bad joke,” Vachon said speaking the AP.

“I didn’t say a word until I’d left. I was too shocked. I was embarrassed, I was humiliated, I felt guilty that I’d even gone there, like I’d done something wrong.”

Vachon 20, said she is the type of person who would complain if a homosexual was refused service.

The owner of the bar, Michel Gadoury says his bar has never allowed women since they opened 11 years ago.

“We’re not discriminating, women have the right to come on certain days,” Gadoury told Radio-Canada.

“It’s a choice, it’s a choice that my clients make, that they ask me to make, and we’re respecting them.”

Audrey stressed that Article 10 of the Quebec charter was amended in 1977 to prevent sexual discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and that ironically she was basing her complaint relying on the same article of law.

“I’m scandalized!” she said of being treated this way by “a community which has suffered discrimination in the past.”

The bar, an understated spot in a flamboyant part of the city, has the trappings of a local pub with pool tables and video poker terminals.

On many nights it shows gay pornography on TV screens instead of the usual hockey game.