An Arkansas man has cried discrimination after employees at the Oaklawn Casino denied him entry. The reason: he carried a Louis Vuitton purse.
NBC affiliate KARK reports that Jordan Kirk, a gay man, visited the casino last Friday with his husband. To his shock, security guards refused to let him enter the building, telling him that he would need to return his purse to the car first.
Countless women carried similar bags around the casino, so Kirk pressed the guard for an explanation. “Men don’t wear purses,” the guard said.
“It is a double standard,” Kirk contends. “If you’re going to allow it for one person, you’ve got to allow it for everybody.”
Kirk and his husband pointed out that the guard had no problem with women carrying similar bags.
“I was like well she is taking her purse inside,” Kirk said, “and the lady behind us was like ‘do I need to take my bag to the car?’ and he was like ‘no, purses are allowed.”
Related: Teen Boy Suspended For Carrying A Purse To Class
Kirk and his husband then asked to speak to a supervisor, who reiterated that bags are not allowed in the casino. Kirk pressed the supervisor on the gender issue as well.
“I asked him if a woman was carrying my bag could she take it in the door and he told me yes–but because I wasn’t, I couldn’t take it inside,” said Kirk.
The management finally allowed Kirk to enter after searching his bag for explosives. Several other women carrying purses entered while the bag was being searched, and were totally confused by the situation.
“Almost every woman that was behind us was like “why aren’t you searching our bag– the woman behind us was like that’s discriminating,” Kirk recalls.
Ultimately, Kirk and his husband were left alone after the entry fiasco. The management later issued an apology to him on Facebook. Oaklawn Casino also released a statement to the press regarding the incident.
“We’ve appropriately addressed Mr. Kirk’s incident with the team members who were involved along with their supervisors,” the statement read in part.
“As an important point of clarification, the General Manager of Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort was not present during this incident but our regularly scheduled security team and casino floor manager were there and did permit Mr Kirk to enter the facility with his bag.
Finally, Oaklawn would like to apologize for any inconvenience this incident may have caused Mr. Kirk.”
Maybe the guard was just jealous. It was a pretty cool Louis Vuitton bag.
Vince
This is just a bigoted door guy who should be fired.
Andrew
The first effort should be to educate him. We need to stop making enemies if possible. If it happens again then he should be fired.
wikidBSTN
I agree with Andrew – as annoying as it is to have to deal with kind of stuff, our first reaction shouldn’t always be to crush and destroy. Educate, first and if it continues – adios. Making enemies just prolongs the conflict.
winemaker
Is this article serious? I can’t stop laughing. That being said, why does this picayune issue make headlines? Some people evidently have lots of free time on their hands and nothing better to do than something like this. Wow, it must be a slow news day at Queerty . Then again, it’s Arkansas, what do you expect? As a footnote: The guard should have said something like this: ‘All packages and handbags bought into the casino are subject to search. please open your bag’. Then if the guy had a problem, he could either open the purse or leave, plain and simple. Really, most of us should have problems and issues as simple as this.
IAMSONICE
I’m with Vince. Crush and destroy.
wikidBSTN
WINEMAKER – – did you even read the article?? They weren’t stopping him to search the purse – they were forbidding him to enter with the purse. As the article mentions numerous times – women with purses were walking right in and past this guy with their purses and no one was stopping them to search their purses or tell them they could not bring one into the casino.
Next time why not take a moment to actually read the article before launching?
1898
ok but what kind of person goes to a casino in the middle of a deadly pandemic…..
KiraNerysRules
The type of person who has a gorgeous Louis Vuitton to show off and cash to burn! ::insert death drop, tongue pop and several snaps:: LOL… But, no. Seriously, you’re right. Going to the grocery store is about as much gambling as I’m gonna do.
wiredpup
Ok Karen….
nmharleyrider
It’s Arkansas for Pete’s sake. Homophobic rednecks abound and most of them have the same last name.
butchqueen
I don’t have anything to wear in Aransas.
blackhook
What is the fascination with casinos? I don’t get it. glamorous? Not so much…
Georgeiv2
Oh for heavens sake what is it with you Americans ? Here in Europe many older men straight and gay carry bags (It a generation thing )The younger guys carry /wear satchels and would be totally confused if confronted about it .as its nothing to do with ones sexuality but a matter of convenience .
Calin
Ha!ha!ha! Cute bag!!
Neoprene
I’ve had this problem multiple times at casinos but I tell security it’s a European carry-all and they immediately let me in.
succubus
poor thing
rockland2u
first, its a messenger bag, its not like its a beaded/sequin clutch, second its LV for Christ sake. hahahaha (search if you must for security, but lets not play favorites, and discriminate) that was door guy being a douche and hateful. nice bag BTW
glennmcbride
They should have just reported him to the fashion police.
ryanM
Hunter Hoagland! 🙂