The Cosmopolitan, Vegas' flashy new adult playground with slick design, sassy attitude, tongue-in-cheek slogan ("Just the Right Amount of Wrong"), and focus on the gay community has fast become one of our go-to recs for Sin City sleeps. We even highlighted them in our print article Diva Las Vegas (April issue).
Needless to say, reading last week how a trans woman was barred for life after being "caught" using the woman's restroom got us growling. For shame! How could this happen, and from an advertiser in our mag, no less?
They got the message. We spoke with the hotel's reps to follow up on their rather canned first response and, admirably, they didn't pass buck. Instead, they recognized it wasn't a lone security guard showing his bigot card but rather a need to further educate all employees to ensure each guest receives the maximum respect he/she/v deserves.
So if anything, out of the ire comes something positive: the hotel has partnered with Las Vegas Gay and Lesbian Center and plans a training for May 18 to further its commitment to diversity. As for the woman involved? She's welcome back any time.
Official response follows after the jump.
"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.
To demonstrate our firm commitment to this matter, we are creating an internal task force to raise issues on LGBT diversity and to keep continued dialogue between The Cosmopolitan and the LGBT community. In addition, we are partnering with Las Vegas Gay and Lesbian Community Center to provide content and information for diversity training around the LGBT community. This training will begin May 18. After the training there will be a second round of meetings with LGBT advocacy groups to review the training process and ensure we are doing everything possible to keep our community informed, accepting and effective.
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.”
— The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
