Entertainment venue fined for refusing 'bachelor party' for male customers

The Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey (TİHEK) has imposed an administrative fine on an entertainment venue that rejected a reservation request on the grounds that it was a large group of men, citing a violation of the prohibition of discrimination based on gender.

According to the TİHEK decision, A.Ö., who wanted to celebrate with friends before his wedding, sought to make a reservation at an entertainment venue in İzmir.

After informing the venue that 8 men would be attending, A.Ö. received the response that "reservation requests from groups consisting only of male customers are not accepted." The individual, whose reservation request was rejected for this reason, applied to TİHEK alleging discrimination based on gender.

SUBMITTED CORRESPONDENCE AS EVIDENCE

The complainant also submitted screenshots of his phone correspondence with the business as evidence. In the correspondence shown in the images, it was seen that the business used the phrase "Unfortunately, I cannot accept only men, sir" following the reservation request.

When A.Ö. asked, "Do you say this when women also make reservations in the same way?" the response given was, "No, since our concept is aimed at our female customers, I cannot accept groups consisting only of men or groups with a male majority."

In its written defense requested as part of the investigation, the entertainment venue claimed that the applicant's allegations did not reflect the truth, stating that they aim to provide the best service to all their customers without regard to ethnic origin, race, or gender.

The defense explained that the venue is a place more frequented by families and women, and that they are meticulous about reservations due to past experiences and complaints regarding large groups consisting only of men exhibiting negative attitudes and behaviors toward female guests under the influence of alcohol.

The defense stated that priority is given to female-majority groups and families, and claimed that reservations are also made for small groups of men.

Concluding the application, TİHEK imposed an 80 thousand lira administrative fine on the business for violating the prohibition of discrimination based on gender.

FROM THE DECISION

In the TİHEK decision, it was emphasized that the principle of equality and the prohibition of discrimination are accepted as fundamental legal norms at the top of international law, as well as being an inseparable part of international conventions on human rights.

The decision, which explained that gender is one of the grounds for discrimination listed in Article 3 of Law No. 6701, stated that any differential treatment that prevents or makes it difficult for a person to enjoy legally recognized rights and freedoms equally compared to those in comparable situations due to their gender constitutes discrimination based on gender.

Including the business's claim that "all-male groups exhibit behaviors that disturb female guests under the influence of alcohol" in its decision, TİHEK made the following assessments:

"The belief that women will not cause disturbance when consuming alcohol, but that men will cause disturbance when consuming alcohol and that other customers will be disturbed, is nothing more than a prejudice, and the phenomenon of discrimination feeds on such prejudices. Furthermore, in the concrete case, there is no objective assessment that the applicant and his friends would exhibit such behavior and disturb female customers, or that they had exhibited such behavior in the past. It has been concluded that the objective sought to be achieved by not admitting groups consisting of men, based solely on prejudice and assumption, is not legitimate."

News Source: AA