He Stood Up Like a Man--and Won

Dennis Koire is a happy man today. He believed bars and car washes and other businesses were discriminating against him because he was a man. They were giving women price discounts, but saying no to him.

Koire went to court, not once but several times, and Thursday he got what he was looking for--a ruling from the California Supreme Court that price-breaks based on sex are discriminatory and illegal.

Koire, 25, a store clerk who lives in Anaheim, got angry seven years ago when a club with a no-males-under-21 rule stopped him at the door but let his19-year-old girlfriend in.

“They were using the women for bait . . . ,” he said in a telephone interview. “The more girls, the more guys (attracted to the bar) over 21. They have no use for guys under 21 because they don’t buy drinks.”

He recalled going to clubs and seeing young men being turned away who would “walk away like lambs. I didn’t.”

It wasn’t the age requirement that angered Koire, but the discrimination against men. And he was equally annoyed by “ladies-only” discounts at car washes.

“They were doing it there, too,” he said. “Some were very rude about it.”

He said he failed to find a state agency that would help and, instead, found Ronald Talmo, who was then director of the Orange County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, who agreed to take the case privately.

“It’s the principle,” Koire explained. “People say there’s more important things in the world to worry about, but there isn’t. All the little things add up to one big thing. And I guess I did something about it.”

On Thursday, Koire was happy, but surprised at the stir he had created.

“Is this front page news, really?” he asked a reporter.

“I’ve been keeping my personal life out of it. I didn’t do it to attract attention,” he said.

Have things really changed since his lawsuit and similar suits have been filed?

Koire doesn’t think so.

“I think it’s worse than ever now. I saw a few places that actually have a ladies night on Saturday night. Business must really be bad. It was always on a Tuesday or a Thursday. You’re talking about not just singles bars. It’s baseball games, restaurants that have specials. It affects everybody.”

Koire, despite the state Supreme Court decision, is still a bit annoyed at businesses that aren’t playing fair with men.

“I went to a place (a bar) just last week with my girlfriend,” he said. “It was $1 for girls, $2 for guys to get in. You know what I said to the guy at the door? I said: ‘Goodby.’ And you know what he said to me? He said: ‘Sue me.’ I said: ‘Maybe I will.’ ”

Times staff writer Michael Seiler in Los Angeles contributed to this story.