No Longer The Wrong Amount Of Wrong: The Cosmo Revokes Stephanie's Lifetime Ban

April 28, 2011 at 2:35 PM | by juliab | Comments (6)

Yesterday morning, we published a story about our friend Stephanie, who came to Vegas a couple weeks ago for a conference, hit up one of the bars at the Cosmopolitan for a nightcap, and was ejected from the hotel and banned for life after she used the women�s restroom.

Stephanie is transgender. People reading about her situation were outraged. The Cosmopolitan was bombarded with criticism, and last night, it apologized.

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is committed to maintaining a community that recognizes and values the inherent dignity of every person, by fostering sensitivity, understanding and mutual respect of our guests and employees. We sincerely regret any misunderstanding or inappropriate actions that any member of our staff may have taken. And to ensure increased sensitivity within this area, the organization will focus on continued training and on-going awareness initiatives. In addition, we apologize to the individual guest and welcome her back to the resort anytime.

Again, we would like to apologize to the LGBT community and anyone concerned and hope to demonstrate our firm dedication to fair and unbiased treatment of all.

What do we think about the third statement they released? Well, the open apology to the LGBT community is awesome. We�re jazzed they value the inherent dignity of every person. It�s great that they �sincerely regret any misunderstanding or inappropriate actions that any member of our staff may have taken�. And we�re delighted that they plan to �ensure increased sensitivity in this area.�

But actions speak louder than words, so what we want to know is: how are they going to do that? We've asked what specific changes they're making, and are waiting to hear back from the Cosmopolitan.

Meanwhile, this is what Stephanie has to say about the Cosmo's about-turn:

I am truly amazed and gratified by the huge outpouring of support that I have received regarding this situation. That was completely unanticipated, and I was simply awestruck by the reactions, and speed at which this spread across the social media.
It is clear that people's reaction was unanticipated by the Cosmopolitan as well.
Regarding the third statement from the Cosmopolitan: if they had sent that statement the first time, I would have found that statement sincere. If they had sent that statement the second time, I would have found their statement weak, but acceptable.
However, the simple fact is that the Cosmopolitan chose not to issue any sort of meaningful reply until such time as there was a huge upswell of anti-Cosmopolitan commentary across the entire social media landscape, until there was almost universal vilification of their behavior, until they received a call from GLAAD, and until they received a call from Community Marketing to revoke their TAG Approval rating, and calls from who knows how many media organizations requesting comment.
As such, coming as it did, to me their statement lacks any sort of sincerity. They do not address how such a thing could happen, they do not address the attitude their staff showed towards a paying customer (irregardless of their sexual or gender orientation), they do not explain why their initial response to this situation was a boiler plate �sorry you did not have a good time at the Cosmopolitan�, they don�t address what their specific policies are, instead using the word �misunderstanding�, and I don�t see any comment from anyone in a position of authority to actually effect change, only from the PR department.
So for me the Cosmopolitan�s real position on this issue can be found in their initial responses: they simply do not care. If they truly believe what they said, they would have issued this apology when they were initially contacted two weeks ago.
As for their invitation to return, I don�t think so.

Comments (6)

Return to » No Longer The Wrong Amount Of Wrong: The Cosmo Revokes Stephanie's Lifetime Ban

I agree with Stephanie on this. The fact that it took a shift of the Earth's axis to get just the PR dept to say anything more than "oops--sorry you had a bad time" doesn't reflect well on them. I think this is a perfect time for other Las Vegas hotels to really reach out and advertise their LGBT-friendliness. I'm assuming there's a mass of people with cancelled Cosmo reservations out there now looking for elsewhere to stay...

It'll be interesting to see what happens at Pride this year - last year, MGM and Caesars and I think Wynn had stands advertising their LGBT-friendliness. I'm assuming Cosmo will have one this year - I wonder what kind of reception it'll get?

Well said, Stephanie! The damage is done and their reputation with the LGBT community is forever tarnished.

If a hotel feels the need to have custom pre-printed multi-part tresspass warnings, I think they need to take a look at their attitudes towards all of their guests. With over 20 years in the hotel industry I've never seen anything like that. It definitely implies that the management is not focused on providing a quality positive experience to their customers.

Also...why would you put your website and phone number on a document that says you're not welcome here anymore? If someone wasn't going to return would they need to look at your website or call?

What exactly did Stephanie do that caused attention for this to even have to be addressed? I am not trying to be cruel here but I truly don't understand how anyone would even know if someone who thinks like a woman, acts like a woman and dressed like a woman is not built like a woman. And what could possibly have been the reason for someone to call it to the hotels attention?

This is not a LGBT friendly place, revoke their recommendation.

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