This was posted on Myspace groups and it reads:

As some of you may have heard, the Lodge is closing it's doors and going out of business.
Effective April 29, the Lodge will no longer be catering to the TG community.
The landlord has opted not to renew the lease of the land where the Lodge stands. Property values have skyrocketed and the land is worth much more than the Lodge can handle.

At this time, there is no new alternative location for Saturday nights. The people at GirlTalk are having a very difficult time acquiring a new place.

The Lodge will officially be closing it's doors in June, but has requested that tg's no longer patronize the facility after April. The reason for this is due to many complaints by their gay customers regarding transgender customers inappropriate behavior, inappropriate dressing and prostitution. The Lodge wishes to go back to being a "gay" exclusive bar for the last month, to cater to requests in their community.

This has been an ongoing problem throughout the years with the transgender community. Many bars/clubs do not wish to cater to our community because of the same complaints. I believe the issue here is not about them being intolerant, but our community not presenting ourselves in a positive light.

Fetish has it's place, but should be contained within fetish oriented establishments. It will be hardpressed for society to take transgender issues seriously until the transgender community as a whole takes itself seriously.

There will be a (tentative) meeting with the transgender community at El Torito Restaurant located at 14433 1/2 Ventura Blvd in Van Nuys (just east of Van Nuys Blvd.) on Thursday sometime between 7-8 pm. All who wish to discuss these issues are welcome to attend. Please keep in mind, though this is a trans-friendly place, it is a mainstream restaurant, therefore we request that you dress appropriately.


Thank you for your time,

Keliana
_____________________________________________________

I personally think thats BULL! This is whats wrong with our GLBT community. Its the fact that gay men treat transexuals like second rate citizens as if gay men are on top of the food chain and were at the bottom. Its disgusting to know that the very own people who claims to be in your own community have such strong discrimination againts their own (maybe their jealous because most straight men would go for a transexual before they would even swing the gay route?).

Gay men are certainly NOT any better than trangenser folks. I think that just because alot of them find social acceptance easily publicly from heterosexual made them thick in the head that theyre better than anyone on the GLBT spectrum. Its PATHETIC if you ask me.

~Kisses.

HTG

I agree with you, HTG. This has been my impression for a long time. In fact, for me, that was one of several reasons why I kept away from any GLBT community. I remember how a certain demeaning word was used by gays to describe CDs. Fifteen years ago or so now and I cannot know if similar things happened other places. But it was my general impression anyway.

And it's saddening, because the best chance we have, I think, is transcending whatever divides the GLBT community. But when I'm hearing stories like this... keeping some faith in those guys is not easy.

These kinds of things is one reason why I see womens rights as essential for the furthering of our cause. It seems to me that there is this replication within the GLBT community of the prejudices of society. Outside the community gay men are discriminated and put down. And then, what happens ? Well, it seems some just act the same way within the GLBT community.

Thanks Linda O. Im sadden by how gay men are thesedays. I guess they quickly forgotten how things started in our small GLBT community. We fight for the right to marry, to have the same benefits as hetero couples have and be given the chance to adopt and raise kids as our own as a family unit.

We are all fighting for these same causes and therefore should stick up for eachother in times of need. Our plight isnt any different than theirs. We strive and work hard to get acceptance in this harsh world we live in.

The way gay men in particular treats transgenders and are discriminatory of TG's is totally a double standard BS IMO. If and when gay people needs to rally they invite transgenders to take part (Gay Pride for example) but when the shoe is on the other foot they hardly care is what it is.


~Kisses.

HTG

I know Anna..sad aint it?

~Kisses.

HTG

I know it's sad. One of my fav clubs here that was open to all in the community now no longer caters to TG/TS /CD's etc.. only regular gay male now. Was such a good place too! Hate when things like this happen


~Valerie

I recently had the opportunity to discuss the relationship between the gay and transgender communities with the Executive Director of IFGE. It is her feeling that politically, we are inextricably tied to the gay community in the struggle toward recognition. She used the analogy that we are sort of the "little sister" of the gay community. That while we dine at the same table, once we are out in public, they yank our pigtails and pick on us in front of their friends. The official stance of most of the advocacy organizations is, unfortunately, that we must hitch our wagon to the gay star.

It is my view that this is counter productive to our cause, though, as our involvement with the gay efforts is little more than a political bargaining chip. Something they can give away in compromise situations. When the gay lobby is pushing legislation with which legislators are not entirely comfortable, the first thing to be dropped from the "GLBT" is the "T." The inclusion of the "T" is nothing but an empty token gesture to begin with. We are largely considered to be an embarrassment, due to the gay communty's sharing of the same misconceptions about us that prevail in society at large.

These misconceptions are the major obstacle that we must overcome, and the very source of the gay lobby's discomfort with us. While the gay issue is one of sexual orientation, and as such, is more likely to be perceived as a lifestyle choice, it is this very impression that they wish to project and perpetuate where the transgender community is concerned. Ours is an issue of gender, having nothing whatever to do with sexual orientation. As for the impression that our condition is the result of a lifestyle choice, I think we all know the story there. I don't personally know one transgender person who has chosen to be this way, and in fact, I don't know one transgender person who, at some point during their struggle with gender identity, has not yearned to have been born "normal."

The gay lobby and the health care INDUSTRY in the US refuses to accept as fact the scientific evidence that identifies the transgender condition as the result of a birth defect, more common than Down's Syndrome and cleft palate combined. Ours is clearly a medical condition, and has nothing to do with anything so superficial as our preference in sex partners. This is not to say that the physiological cause of homosexuality is any less valid than that of transgenderism, just that the two are separate and distinct, and that they need to be dealt with separately.

Interesting to note that what precipitated this discussion with the Director of IFGE was the fact that I had submitted my resume' for a job with the Human Rights Campaign, a "GLBT" advocacy organization, for a position as an events coordinator. Despite the fact that my CV detailed my extensive, lifelong background in the events industry, and was accompanied by letters of reference from IFGE and others, attesting to my transgender advocacy work, I received a rejection letter that while it conceded that I was eminently qualified for the job, they preferred to consider other candidates. It could not have been more obvious that they were uncomfortable with the idea of having a transgender person in a high profile management position in their primarily political organization. The irony of the fact that this rejection letter was written to me by an African American lesbian woman only emphasizes the hypocrisy of the gay community's attitude toward transgender people.

I realize that politically, we must remain on civil terms with the gay lobby, but it is my view that the time has come to divorce ourselves from them and establish political autonomy. Our goal will never be achieved as long as we continue to allow ourselves to be the patsy and "fall guy" for their pursuits.

GIVE US BACK OUR "T!"

I couldn't agree more, Hanna. Ever since I was a little tiny TG, the only places we could really go were the gay bars, such as the Hippo, in Baltimore, where we have not been accepted as much as merely tolerated, usually with snide comments from staff and patrons.

Over the years, I have had the privilege to patronize establishments that have been exclusively devoted to TG clientele, such as Mother Lode's Wild Cherry, Aunt Sally's and The Double Take (not to mention my current fave, Napoleon's) and while TG patrons are extended certain privileges not available to non TG patrons, such as reduced cover charges or drink prices, all of these establishments welcome any and all types of customers graciously and with open arms.

I would encourage any TG person who is so inclined and has the resources to establish TG clubs and restaurants, or businesses of any kind in your area, so that none of us will ever have to endure the "also ran" attitude and eyes rolled at the ceiling by the leather chaps clad bartender with the little cop moustache ever again when we want to enjoy a beverage and the company of our fellow transgender people.

The gay community has clearly demonstrated that they do not want us around, so they obviously don't deserve our money either.

Amen! Great Post Hanna.

~Kisses.

HTG

Ok, let's re-write the statement a bit:

"The Lodge will officially be closing it's doors in June, but has requested that black people no longer patronize the facility after April. The reason for this is due to many complaints by their white customers regarding black customers inappropriate behavior, inappropriate dressing and prostitution. The Lodge wishes to go back to being a "white" exclusive bar for the last month, to cater to requests in their community."

This would surely be illegal in most countries and rightly so!
If the club want's to apply a dresscode stating "no fetisch clothing" then that's fine by me. Most places have rules like this, No sneakers, No jeans, no shorts and so on.
Throw people out for selling sex: good
Throw people out for inapropriate behaviour (throwing up on the floor, acting like a prostitute, ...) : good
Throw people out for being black/white/gay/TG : Bad idea.

Hearing things like this really does p*ss me off BIG-TIME!
All it is is total & utter bigotry of the worst kind. what makes these bloody pathetic gay men think that they're better than anyone else, when they quite clearly ARE NOT &NEVER WILL BE!

Love & xxxxxxxx Anna-Marie

Harajuku.....sad aint the word hun

Love & xxxxxx Anna-Marie