Hooters has been able to maintain it's hiring practices by a combination of strategic settlements, compromise by adding additional staffing positions that men are eligible for, and arguing that their requirement for servers to be attractive women meets the bona fide occupational qualification exception as specified by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. (
Business Insider)
Incidentally, one of the challengers of the Alamo Drafthouse showings is Stephen Clark, a professor at Albany Law School, and an expert on anti-discrimination law. He compares the issue to those faced by gay bars:
“I’m a gay man, and I’ve studied and taught gay rights for years. Our gay bars have long said that you do not exclude people because they’re gay or straight or transgender — you just can’t do that for any reason. We have to deal with the bachelorette parties that come to the gay bar. They’re terribly disruptive, but if you forbid women from coming to a gay bar, you’re starting down a slippery slope. It’s discrimination.”
Beyond the civil rights issue, the Austin City code bans places of public accommodation from discriminating on the basis of gender which includes a restriction on advertisements promoting such discriminatory events or intentions. Movie theaters are specifically listed under the statute.
That sounds like a ringing endorsement. I hope my schedule and the weather will hold so I can see it tomorrow. (This will be the first DCEU movie that I've gone to the theater for since Man of Steel.)