'Ladies' Night' Gender Bias Suit Thrown Out of New York Court

NEW YORK – 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 city nightclubs can price their products as they wish because they're not acting as representatives of the state.

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

Hollander said ladies' nights at Manhattan clubs including Lotus and the China Club 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, which had sought to represent all men over the age of 21 who had entered one of the nightclubs on a ladies' night since June 21, 2004, was frivolous.

They said men are not discriminated against by ladies' nights just as 20-somethings don't suffer because some restaurants let children eat for free or offer early bird specials to older customers.

And they 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 there's no comparable men's program.

Columbia University had no comment on the suit.