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Brando’s Citi Cucina agreed to several punishments, including a $5,000 payment to the customer, Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a news release on Friday, June 28. The restaurant was found to have violated the state's Law Against Discrimination (LAD).
Investigators said Brando's refused to serve the customer because staff believed they weren't following the restaurant's dress code, banning men from wearing sleeveless shirts while not having the same requirement for women.
"Even though the patron had previously informed staff that they were non-binary, the restaurant insisted that the patron adhere to the restaurant’s rules for men’s clothing," Platkin said in a statement.
Brando's agreed to make its dress code gender-neutral for its Asbury Park restaurant and its other locations in Marlboro, Monmouth Beach, and Old Bridge. It also agreed not to refuse to serve any customer based on their gender identity or any other characteristic protected under the LAD.
The restaurant will also pay $5,000 to the state's Division on Civil Rights (DCR).
"New Jersey’s civil rights laws make it unlawful to discriminate based on gender identity," DCR director Sundeep Iyer said in a statement. "Those protections mean that places open to the public, including restaurants, can’t maintain gender-binary dress codes that exclude LGBTQ+ people. As today’s settlement signals, we will continue our work to enforce the robust protections our laws provide against discrimination based on gender identity or expression."
"In New Jersey, we refuse to tolerate discrimination against any LGBTQ+ individuals," said Platkin. "Today’s resolution is the result of the hard work we’ve committed to doing so that no one is mistreated in New Jersey because of their gender identity or gender expression."
Brando's will also train its staff about the LAD and preventing LGBTQ+ discrimination.
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