Twilo’s Gender Gap

Dismissed Dancers May Finally Get Their Day in Court

Comments (0) By Tony Phillips Tuesday, Apr 3 2001

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State Senator Thomas K. Duane calls the Twilo incident "disgusting and reprehensible," and has sent a letter to president/secretary of Stuart Cromwell, Inc., the corporation that does business as Twilo. The letter demands immediate resolution of the supreme court case and sensitivity training put in place for all club employees. Scott Melvin, a legislative aide of Duane's, says, "Sure, Twilo is denying the charge, but the club's behavior, as in the past, has been less than lackluster, including hiding OD's in the basement during police actions. That kind of behavior would absolutely put this charge in the realm of the possible." Duane adds, "Twilo is not a good corporate citizen, even in terms of cooperating with the police and community boards."

Oehmke rebuts, "We have had absolutely no problems in the last two years with the community boards or anything like that." But Officer Robert Cusick, who handles community affairs for the 10th Precinct in which Twilo resides, corroborates Duane's accusations. From a confiscated security tape, Cusick says, "We saw them dragging the OD's around from room to room, trying to avoid us." He also points out that approximately 15 charges were issued early on the morning of March 24, including citations for the sale of alcohol to a minor, unlicensed security, and forged ID.

photo: Michael Kamber

“Obviously, I’m very draggy, but so are a lot of other women”: Amanda LePore, right, with Sophia “La Mar” Munoz.

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Twilo's standing in the community becomes relevant as this case is sure to boil down to credibility: Bindra's word against Munoz's. As to the dancers being replaced with "real" or "biological girls," Shanahan explains, "The bottom line is, he told them they were letting them go based upon the fact that they were transsexuals and that they wanted to hire biological women to replace them. We intend on showing that they did hire biological women to replace them and that's against the law."

Both girls self-identify a bit to the left of biological women—if they didn't, in fact, then Shanahan might have a more clear-cut case. Munoz calls herself "third sex," while Lepore says, "Sometimes I get called a drag queen and I'll be naked. It just seems stupid to me. Obviously, I'm very draggy, but so are a lot of other women—Dolly Parton looks just as extreme as I do. How could you have breasts and a pussy and be a drag queen?"