Bar Owner Defends Age Policy: ‘Women Mature Faster Than Men’

Hello, women on the internet! Have you perhaps not experienced enough ambient sexism today, just by virtue of having lady parts? Excellent. Provided you were born around or before the time when Clarence Thomas allegedly sexually harassed Anita Hill, please make your way to Kasey’s Kitchen and Cocktails in Long Island. There you will find a rooftop bar that is accessible to men 30 and older—and women 25 and older.

“Women mature earlier,” owner Anthony Geraci explained to the New York Times. “I don’t think it’s sexist.”

Some of us disagree. But is it legal?

The Times reported that the policy appears to violate New York City Executive Law 296, which prohibits the owner of “any place of public accommodation, resort or amusement” from denying anyone entry “because of the race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, military status, sex, or disability or marital status of any person.” Still, some people—like Geraci—argue that such decisions should be the purview of their individual owners.

Look, you want to date older or younger, by all means go forth and curate your Tinder per your whim. But don’t try to impose your own proclivities on the rest of us, whether or not you think they’re good for business. As a woman who in fact happens to be exactly 25 and thus, according to Geraci, fully matured, I can authoritatively say that I will not be visiting his establishment.