Star City, What A Drag!

Local News, By Joal, 26th May, 2008

It seems some venues are happy to pull crowds using drag, but that’s as far as the cross-dressing is allowed to go.
As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald today, Paul Hurst a transvestite who also refers to himself as Anne-Maree, was refused entry to the Priscilla Bar at Star City Casino’s Lyric Theatre in Sydney in late 2006.

Refused entry by a security guard who deemed Hurst a man, and therefore dressed ‘inappropriately’, Hurst had enjoyed an evening at the bar earlier that year, taking part in the launch of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the long-running musical at the Lyric that gave the bar it’s name.

During a hearing at the Administrative Decisions Tribunal, Hurst told deputy president that he “was wearing a full red sequin gown,” a friend accompanying him was wearing a red skirt and that he had “been going to the casino in drag on and off at least three to four times a week for the past ten years,”

Hurst went on to say that he had always regarded himself as a woman and that having a security guard physically stop him from entering the casino because of the gender he identified as amounted to discrimination.

Not only does it seem the casino’s actions were hypocritical in light of the popularity and patronage they were drawing from the Priscilla show, the casino’s solicitor has now demanded Hurst prove that sexually he is transsexual before the trial continue. The casino justified this by citing that under the Anti-Discrimination Act the tribunal can only hear transgender cases, not those of a transvestite.

Hurst has said that he rejected the casino’s offers of a mediation conference as it had changed its version of events a number of times. Initially citing that the problem was that Hurst’s groin could almost be seen, and later that the issue was visible underwear and the inappropriate dress of his friend, not Hurst himself.

The case is being heard before the Anti-Discrimination Board as the casino refuses to settle on Hurst’s demand for $15,000 in damages.

Photo: Dallas Kilponen, Sydney Morning Herald.

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