New York Lawyer Files Complaint Over Austin Theater's Ladies-Only 'Wonder Woman' Screenings

AUSTIN, TX — It was inevitable, and something that not even Wonder Woman could dispel with her powerful bracelets; An attorney has filed a complaint with a local theater's women-only screenings featuring the super-heroine, adding heat to an already-raging debate.

The Washington Post reported that Stephen Clark, an living 2,000 miles away in New York, has joined the ranks of those taking issue with the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz theater screenings of the movie "Wonder Woman" with admittance limited only to women as a form of feminist celebration and empowerment. The ladies-only film showings have raised the ire of some local men claiming reverse-discrimination and double standard.

Clark told the Post he initially was going to let the women-only screenings slide but then was offended by the perceived smug tone theater officials took to those objecting. In full umbrage, the law professor at Albany Law School took to researching city code and filed an administrative charge with the city's Equal Employment and Fair Housing office.

“There was a vibrant argument happening on Facebook,” Clark, 48, told The Washington Post. “But when the theater responded to complaints, they were pretty snide about it and willing to mock anyone who had a complaint and that really struck me. There is also the fact that what they were doing is illegal,” he added.

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Clark further took issue with the theater's plan to staff the women-only screenings with an all-female staff during the movie, including women ushers, ticket takers and culinary staff. He sees that aspect of the promotion as employment discrimination.

The attorney, who is gay, cited his own community in illustrating a contrast with the women-only screenings: "Our gay bars have long said that you do not exclude people because they’re gay or straight or transgender. You just can’t do that for any reason," Clark told the Post. “We have to deal with the bachelorette parties that come to the gay bar. They’re terribly disruptive, but if you forbid women from coming to a gay bar, you’re starting down a slippery slope. It’s discrimination.”

If a movie with a gay theme were to be screened only for gay people, he would feel the same way, he told the newspaper: "If they were trying to do a gay-only ‘Brokeback Mountain,’ I would feel the same way.”

As for the theater, officials are sticking to their guns, regardless of complaints from some naysayers: “We are very excited to present select, women-only 'Wonder Woman' screenings at Alamo Drafthouse,” Morgan Hendrix, Alamo Drafthouse creative manager said in a statement emailed to The Post. “That providing an experience where women truly reign supreme has incurred the wrath of trolls only serves to deepen our belief that we’re doing something right.”

Apparently, some of the aggrieved have taken their complaints beyond the theater's Facebook page thread to the city as Clark has. Alexa Muraida, a city of Austin spokeswoman, told The Post that several people have filed discrimination complaints with the EFHO, and the city is in the process of reviewing and investigating them.

>>> Read the full story at Washington Post

Image via Alamo Drafthouse Ritz Theater