If you can't discriminate based on gender then you can't worry about the apparel. It would have to be illegal for men to wear women's clothes for that to be enforced, no? And the bar wouldn't do the enforcing, the police would. The only thing they could worry about is underage drinkers, I would think…

This is not going to end well for Hunters. It's actually a suburban Chicago bar, but some city activist lgbT's will probably make it a point to carpool out to the burbs, and protest this discrimination…as they probably should.

Hunters can be fun, but the place can be kind of a freak show sometimes. It has always had a group of crossdressing/trans customers along with an otherwise fairly diverse clientele for a surburban bar.

Methinks this is about business and image, and sorry if this isn't PC, but older surburban trannies don't usually make hot twinks want to come out and party at your bar. I think Hunters is trying to drive out the trans people, and "whitewash/youthwash" its' clientele.

This is totally wrong and I hope they get a huge fine.

Just another instance of discomfort the gay community has with the trans community. Maybe if people were more comfortable with trans people, then it wouldn't bring their business down because it would be like every other place. Except trans people aren't welcome anywhere and therefore hope and pray that the gay bar they frequent won't shun them. I guess as long as we don't congregate in too large numbers we can be tolerated…

Oh God–this is so blown out of proportion. Hunters has nothing against the Transgendered community or the drag community! They are one of the most welcoming bars in Illinois!

These are not your everyday drag queens or trans persons–they are basically guys barely disguised as women for the purposes of robbing the patrons. It's kind of an epidemic in Chicago right now–which any responsible blogger or journalist with access to Google woudl know!!

It is by no means an act of discrimination on the part of Hunters–but merely a basic security check-point.

Yes, this bar is suburban and tragic–but hardly discriminatory!

Sad. Hunters is in the suburbs, as stated above, and there's not a lot of places to go for anyone living an alternate lifestyle. I haven't been there many times, but I always felt like there was a pretty good mix of different types of folks there.

I can understand a bar wanting to protect themselves and their liquor license, and sometimes people do come to the bar not looking at all like the photo on their ID, but this seems to be going a bit too far.

I suggest they do what bars did when I lived in Georgia and the law was 18 to party 21 to drink. Anyone who came in under 21 could enter, but they had to leave their ID with the ID checker and had to wear a wrist band. At the end of the night, return with the wristband around your wrist and you got your ID back. This allows the patron to appear as they would like, and be honest about their identity with the bar, also protecting the bar's liquor license.

the bar in the burbs always had nice transvestites in the mix (in the 90s anyway) — they were usually non-passing Ed Wood types.
They would hang together and we dubbed them the "secretarial pool".

@Steve: You are delusional. Men who date transgendered people are not usually "fooled". They know what they are looking for. And, while you may agree with the motivation behind this discrimination, it is still discrimination.

The hunters in San Jose (now gone) did not like drag queens .

The tranny sex workers love this bar as it is close to O'Hare airport. Trannies fly in from all over the country to turn tricks in the nearby hotels and make a little vacation out of it.

Men like variety so a new crop always comes in to satisfy the demand.

But it is discriminatory to the small town guys or suburbanites who go there for community and to freely cross dress. Getting paid for sex is not on these people's mind.

I've heard through the grape vine via locals that this isn't about security precautions or trans sex workers, it's about the bar trying to attract a more upmarket and younger crowd, so the un-passable trans people are being turned away in case it might scare the new clientele.

No matter the reasoning, this is discriminatory and unacceptable.

As Trans person who has frequented HUnters in the past, the question really is what does my id have to do with whether I might be turning tricks. The id states who I legally am, not what I may be up to. Certainly, a bar has the right to keep working men, women or trans from plying their wares in the club. I believe this would be noticed by their actions, and not by their legal form of id. To claim the policy is necessary due to the fact that trans people are prostitutes is wrong. If Hunters does not want trans people there, then say so and be done with it, but do not call them all hookers unless they have a fem id.

Not surprised but Hunters isn't in Chicago- it is in Elk Grove. It's on Higgins.

There are alot of men who adore dressing like a woman. Not to solicit any thing other then what they would like their identity to be like. If Hunters wanted to really make some money, they should come out with a TG bar. Get a license for TG's and this way the police do not have to manipulate the gay aspect of Hunters. Hunters started as a gay bar, leave it as a gay bar.

Let's get something new and exiting for the men and woman who have identity issues and love the opposite sex clothes, make up and style.

I am a gay man, but I love TG's and love to be with a man who dresses and cares for himself as a woman. It is total turn on. I have met numerous TG's at Hunters and one I have fallen head over heels for. I wish more TG's would dress like woman on a day to day basis rather then hiding their identity in a dark and dreary nightclub. To all you TG men to woman. Please show more of yourselfs in real life. It's acceptable and understood in Illinois, Elk Grove and the surrounding communities. I love you.

Bobbie