Someone I know was seeking to register voters at a club/bar one
weekend.
He asked the management/owner if he could do so in the club. He
was
told that he could only if he was voting for Bush and trying to
get
others to do the same. He is a Democrat and did not appreciate
this.
He ultimately went outside on the street/sidewalk area almost
completely
across the street from the business. He registered people who
were
willing as they came out of the club, but he was on public
property. He
did comment on the fact that the owner/management was Republican
to many
of the people he spoke with--which the owner/management
confirmed was
true. The management/owner came out to complain to him and was
very
upset. He made some critical remarks to her about the condition
of the
establishment--not terribly clean, in need of some maintenance,
etc. He
was not being threatening, however, and he wasn't simply
attacking her
character, club, etc. He was merely being critical and a bit
rude.
The management/owner ultimately retreated to the front of their
business
and watched everyone carefully. Subsequently it was discovered
that
they were memorizing faces, taking pictures, or something of
that sort,
and now everyone who was in the vacinity is supposedly "banned
for
life" from the business. One girl came out of the club, asked
what he
was doing, obtained a registration form, filled it out, handed
it back
to him, said, "Have a nice night!", and left. She discovered
the
following day that both she and her roommate (who only stood
quietly by
the entire time) were "banned for life" based on their actions.
So far,
as many as 15 people have been banned over this, yet only one
said
anything at all specific about the club, and the fiasco took
place on
public property.
Does the business have the right to do this? I'm not sure if
this is a
federal or state issue, but the location is Knoxville,
Tennessee.
Basically, the only reason for the banning would be, in the case
of the
main person, his political affiliate and disparaging remarks
against the
business. For everyone else who was banned, however, the
reasoning had
to have purely been political affiliation or, perhaps, an
accusation of
tacit endorsement of his criticisms against the business based
merely on
the fact that they registered through him.
Please let me know the legality of this situation, options of
legal
recourse, and please point me to the relevant laws regarding the
issue.
I attempted to find a relevant law in the legal texts, but I'm
not an
attorney, and I do not know exactly what type of law I should be
looking
for or even if I should be looking at federal or state law.
A retail business owner may discriminate among customers on the
basis of any reason that is not illegal. Political affiliation is
not an illegal reason. Illegal reasons include: race, handicap,
age, sex, religion, and a bunch of others I can't think of at the
moment.
McGyver
McGyver
