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Crews Inn rep says drag queens allowed in on certain conditions; performers vow to continue fight

Ivana Tramp, left, and Celesete Williams lead a protest against Crews Inn’s alleged ban on transgenders outside the Fitzhugh Avenue gay bar on Tuesday, July 22. Tramp and Williams said they’ll be back next week and plan legal action.

Depending on whom you ask, Crews Inn’s Tuesday night ban on transgender women and drag queens may be over after about 60 people showed up to protest this week.

“I never expected a turnout this large,” said Celeste Williams, one of the transgender women kicked out of the bar two weeks ago. “It makes me feel honored to be part of this community, and it makes me even more sure that what happened to us is happening to others, and it’s just wrong.”

Crews Inn co-owner David Moore wouldn’t comment on the protest, other than to say, “The whole thing got blown way out of proportion.”

He added, “You got your story, and that’s all I’m giving you.”

Another representative from Crews Inn, who asked not to be identified, argued that there is no ban because transgender women whose IDs match their appearance will be allowed in.

Others can go to Moore individually and ask to be let in if they promise to behave, the representative said.

“It’s still discrimination, point blank,” said Dallas Lesbian and Gay Alliance President Patti Fink. “Could you imagine what would happen if they made all black people individually ask to be let in and promise that they will behave?”

No one at the protest had identification that didn’t match their appearance to test whether the ban stood.

But two transgender women whose appearances matched their driver’s licenses were allowed into the bar.

Still, Sierra Nicole Standridge, who performs as Sierra Nicole Andrews, is hesitant to accept that everything is okay now.

“Of course he is going to be nice right now, but I was kicked out three years ago for the same reason, and my ID matches. If it happened back then and again this year, what’s to say it won’t start going on again as soon as the protest goes away?” she said.

Robert Clawson, a dancer at Crews Inn who stopped by the protest on his way into work, said he’s sure very little has changed.

“David is set in his ways,” Clawson said. “I think it is just awful, but I have to make my dollar.”

If they couldn’t change Moore’s mind, the crowd hoped to at least “put a dent in his pocket,” according to Williams.

The picketers chanted, “One, two, three, four. Don’t give cash to David Moore,” and told people walking into the bar that going inside meant they support discrimination, too.

Station 4 performer Krystal Summers swaps out her high-heels for tennis shoes at the protest because all the marching was beginning to hurt her feet. Summers says she is one of the transgender women kicked out of Crews Inn last week because of her gender identity. She plans to file discrimination paperwork with the city this week. BEN BRISCOE/Dallas Voice

Many turned away. An employee at the bar across the street said business there was up by about 30 percent. That club was at capacity, with a line outside the door for the first time in memory, the employee said.

But overall, the attention to the ban might have backfired as Crews Inn’s business tripled over the weekend after an article about the ban appeared in Dallas Voice last week.

Billy Vinson is one of the customers who crossed the picket line. He said: “It doesn’t bother me. They just seem so bitter and silly, and I think every one should just communicate.”

That’s not the reaction the protesters were hoping to receive.

“It hurts to hear that,” said Ivana Tramp, another transgender woman asked to leave last week. “But we are not going to take this lying down.”

Tramp and Williams have already filed a complaint with the Dallas Fair Housing Office, which prohibits business owners from denying service based on gender identity. Station 4 performer Krystal Summers said she plans to file one The three also passed out the forms to others at the protest, and DGLA sent out a press release asking anyone else who has been denied entry to call the city’s 24-hour hotline at 214-670-FAIR.

Williams and Tramp also plan a lawsuit. They have approached Lambda Legal, the LGBT civil rights group, about taking the case, but have not heard back because the staff attorney for this region is on vacation.

“It doesn’t matter if I have to go through 500 attorneys, I’m going to find one who will take this to court,” Williams said.

But for now, the group plans to picket again next Tuesday, July 29.

“I’ll be here,” Williams said. “We can let him get away with this, and we probably won’t stop until the bar no longer is open or [no longer] owned by David Moore.”

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition July 25, 2008.

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