Steve Horner admits he blew into town looking for trouble.
“I’m trying to agitate people. I want people to get off their butts.”
And after filing a civil-rights complaint in Colorado, claiming that ladies night discriminates against men, he is off to an inspired start.
Originally from Minnesota, Horner recently moved to Denver after living in Texas. He reminds me of a hyper-motivational high school football coach who just never lets up.
“I’ve been on the road, selling books and speaking,” says the 58-year-old author of two books on parenting. “It kind of gives me a real fun, contemporary lifestyle as a single man, rather than sitting back home … being a couch potato.”
Instead of loafing around, Horner has transformed himself into a self-described “freedom fighter.” And his somewhat bewildering brand of freedom involves barring tavern owners from offering preferential treatment to women.
It all started in 1992, when the Purple Heart winner and single full-time parent of two boys headed over to Minneapolis’ Mall of America for a beer.
Horton disdainfully points out that around this time, there was a lot of national attention on “harassment … domestic abuse … feminism … equal rights … affirmative action.”
“When I was asked to pay five dollars at Gators (a bar), I said, ‘What in the heck for?’ I pay five bucks because I’m a guy, and women get in free because they’re women?”
I can’t attest to much experience with ladies night. But as I understand the arrangement, women drink free as an enticement to balance the gender gap. Women show up. Men are happy. Evolution marches on its merry way. Seems to make sense for everyone involved. Almost.
“I wasn’t in the mood to play second fiddle to women who felt they deserved favors,” he says, “when I’m doing single parenting, trying to eke out a living in an environment tougher than anyone in line was challenged with.”
Universal truth: We all play second fiddle, or we end up playing solo fiddle.
Horner’s complaint led to a statewide ban – though he claims it is widely ignored. But he didn’t drop it there. After another visit to the Mall of America in February 1996, Horner filed a human- rights complaint against Hooters after a sensible manager refused to hire him as a waiter.
“I did it just to expose the double standards again – in hiring practices,” he contends. “They only wanted to hire women. … Where were the feminists on that one? Nowhere. Why? Because it served women. Doesn’t serve guys like me. So I wanted to spotlight the hypocrisy.”
That he did. And when the deputy commissioner of the Human Rights Department didn’t move on the complaint, Horner began calling her phone at work. Often. Soon he faced harassment charges. Horner was found guilty and spent 30 days in jail.
Although I’ve never visited Hooters, I have a strong suspicion those owl eyes are insinuating something. So why intrude on this arrangement between consumer and buxom waitress?
For the same reason Horner is going after ladies night: to prove a point. If women and minorities can use civil-rights laws to their advantage, why not a white man, he asks? And because places of public accommodation in Colorado “cannot restrict activities or services to anyone based on gender, religion and race,” according to the law, he’s got a case.
But really … why?
“The real reason I’m doing this is to emulate Rosa Parks. And freedom fighters like her.”
I’m a little taken aback by the Rosa Parks correlation, but the conviction in Horner’s voice tells me he means it.
“This is not about gender; this is about principle.”
But it’s also about ladies night, right? Which, I’m sorry, is a magnificent idea.
Horner has taught me one thing, however: Simply because you can manipulate the law to make a point doesn’t mean that you should.
David Harsanyi’s column usually appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at 303-954-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
