"Our gay bars have long said that you do not exclude people because they’re gay or straight or transgender — you just can’t do that for any reason."

”We have to deal with the bachelorette parties that come to the gay bar. They’re terribly disruptive, but if you forbid women from coming to a gay bar, you’re starting down a slippery slope. It’s discrimination."

Says lawprof Stephen Clark — who says he is "a gay man, and I’ve studied and taught gay rights for years" — who filed an administrative charge against the Alamo Drafthouse for its women-only showings of "Wonder Woman," discussed at WaPo in "Why a gay law professor is trying to shut down women-only ‘Wonder Woman’ screening."

I haven't taken a legal position on this matter, and I explained why here. But I'm very interested in Clark's perspective, shaped by the annoyance of bachelorette parties in gay bars.*

When the historically disadvantaged group creates a special space for expressive purposes — even in a commercial setting like a bar or theater — aren't you sympathetic to its interest in preserving the benefits of the culture it has created? It's not the government. It's a private business. I'm not purporting to interpret the municipal law of Austin, Texas, only to discuss our principles of equality and freedom of association and expression.

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* Maybe gay bars shouldn't be putting up with bachelorette parties! How about some lateral thinking? Clark seems to be implying that places he (or his friends) might wish would be exclusionary have stuck to a principle of nondescrimination and therefore other places should have to follow the same principle. But maybe he ought to consider whether gay bars are unnecessarily hurting themselves by not banning bachelorette parties.