Oregon bar owner to pay $400G to banned cross-dresser

PORTLAND, Ore. – A bar owner has been ordered to pay $400,000 to a group of cross-dresser he banned from his club last year.

The Oregonian reports the Bureau of Labor and Industries civil rights division imposed the penalty against Chris Penner, owner of the Twilight Room Annex. Penner had told members of the Rose City T-Girls they could not return to his bar.

The penalty is the first imposed under the 2007 Oregon Equality Act. The law protects the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender Oregonians in employment, housing and public places. The order also requires Penner to pay a $5,000 civil penalty.

The complaint lists 11 aggrieved persons, 10 of whom self-identify as cross-dressers.