Cross-dresser sues Cedar Point

I wonder if there's any legal precedent for this? I mean, if I dress as a woman, clearly that's a costume, but for this guy it wasn't. It's not like you can show your cross-dressing ID card.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

True. It IS his/her lifestyle, and how he/she dresses regularly. They wouldn't throw out a woman dressed like a man. And I have seen many male guests wearing tight hiphuggers and halter tops. I wonder if any of them have been asked to leave? I have a feeling the "dress" just made him/her way too obvious to the GP and there were some complaints.

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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead

He definitely has a case here. I know of some Scottish people who like to wear kilts. Would CP have thrown them out as well?

The park needs to be more sensitive with issues like this.

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Prather claims the park's unlawful restraint, reckless conduct and invasion of privacy caused him to suffer fear, humiliation, embarrassment and frustration, the complaint said. He is seeking unspecified punitive and compensatory damages worth more than $25,000 on each of eight causes of action listed in the complaint.

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Someone please tell me where the fear factor comes in.

He is asking for $200,000 for this whole thing.

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Woodencoaster.com *** This post was edited by bigkirby on 6/13/2002. ***

The park does have a policy against offensive clothing. When I worked at the park, numerous guests were either told to change or turn the shirts inside out or leave. Same thing with people had holes in the ass of their pants, they were told to change or leave. The park promotes a family atmosphere. Clearly a man in a dress is not something seen everyday and I personally am very open minded, but the park is NOT a place to promote cross dressing..save that for Las Vegas. I feel that the park clearly is in the right in this case. Yes you can argue that women dress up like men , but everyone sex wears jeans, t-shirts, shorts however tight they may be. Also, isn't there safety issues involved here? How comfortable would you be seeing a man in a dress standing next to you at the urnial or a woman in the restroom and a guy in a dress coming in? I think that that may cause a verbal and possible physical confrontation between people. The park is simply looking at protecting guests from possible problems.

And he doesn't feel humiliated when people look at him when he's in a dress. Doesn't make since to me...

"Offensive clothing" is potentially a really tricky area, though. *I'm* offended by overweight women in baby T's, does that mean I can complain about it at Guest Relations and have them thrown out? A narrow-minded bigot could be offended by someone wearing a burka (or for that matter, could argue that a burka is a "costume").

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--Greg
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Clearly a man in a dress is not something seen everyday...

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But does that make it offensive? Even then, the park hasn't said it was offensive, but that it was a costume, and thus prohibited. But is it a costume if that's just what the guy wears?

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

Just because I'm a heterosexual male doesn't mean I should wear skin-tight biker shorts and walk around with my stomach exposed. There's stretched skin down there from when I used to weigh 275. You don't need to see that. Frankly, I don't have the body to pull it off and it would be just plain nasty. And should I choose to visit someone's house or other private property, they have every right to tell me I look like crap and go put on some decent clothes.

And the same is true of anyone else regardless of their gender identity or preference. If you look like crap and visit someone else's place, they have the right to tell you so....and the right to tell you to leave.

CP tells people with poor taste in T-shirts to leave the park, with poor taste in swim attire to leave Soak City (tho nowhere NEAR enough) and they have every right to tell a crossdressing man that his particular choice of smock crosses the line, too.

I don't see a gay or straight issue here. I see just plain nasty.

-'Playa

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I think this one could be tough for both parties. Honestly I dont think either one is wrong. How a jury will lean I guess we will have to wait and see.

Personally I dont find men cross dressing offensive. Hey at least they have clothes on. I am not gay and not a cross dresser myself. If I was I dont think that I would go to the park in a dress.

I do wonder why many females do as it is. One really has to wonder the logic of wearing a dress at an amusement park altogether.

Hmm.....Ah yes....so everyone can see what you have underneath when you go riding coasters!

Since Cedar Point is a "family" oriented park I do understand that they probably felt that it was inappropriate for children to see.

As one person said why did they not prevent him from entering the park in first place. I suspect that the ticket taker most likely was not a security personel and possibly was not trained on handling situations like this.

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well yeah a man in a dress is not seen everyday, but in Las Vegas men wear dresses as costumes during the impersonation shows, so I can see the parks view on it being a costume.

Seems like a lot of people are missing the point. Like Jeff was trying to say.....this is NOT an issue of whether or not a man wearing a dress is appropriate behavior in a public setting. Cedar Point said nothing about the dress being inappropriate or too risque'. The park's stand on this is that he was an adult wearing a costume, which is prohibited by park rules.

Basically, they're saying that by wearing a dress, this man is no different than one of us walking into CP wearing a Darth Vader mask. But since our lifestyle doesn't include wearing Darth Vader masks daily........and this man clearly cross-dresses on a regular basis.......did CP judge this situation appropriately?

Don't forget, there are restaurants that require a tie and or jacket to be worn in order to be served. The man doesn't have a case.

I think what Cedar Point did is understandable, but not agreeable. What they did was unfair, but they did it, so the man should just get over it and return to the park wearing something else. I guess that's just Cedar Point's rules. And if you go there you have to abide by them. But just to remind you I'm not saying I agreed with what the park did.

what is he suing for the 70 $ he paid to get in

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I just want to ride as many coasters as posible

If he wants the case settled, he should ask for a free ticket, so he can come back without being "harrassed" ;)

I mean, this guy's been doing this for 32 years, so wouldn't you think that he's probably been exposed to "discrimination" worse than this? I agree with Sfgam Enthusiast - what the park did was understandable. The man should get over it, and then put on some appropriate clothing. By "appropriate," I mean clothing that you would wear to an amusement park. It doesn't matter if it's women's clothing, but if you plan on riding the rides, you shouldn't wear a dress! ;)

I think it is a bad case of the police in a power struggle.

This could have happened to just about any park. I bet almost all parks have some kind of rule about costumes just like cp.

I think he does have a case here. Like CPLady said, they wouldn't throw out a woman dressed like a man! So why should it be the other way around for a man dressed like a woman.

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