A barbershop has been fined after turning a woman away from the store.
Barbiere, located in Washington, Pennsylvania, is a “high end Gentlemen’s Barber Shop.” The shop specializes in haircuts, shaves, beard trims, and grey blending.
Although the store explicitly and exclusively caters to men, Diamond Pecjak reportedly came into Barbiere on March 11 seeking a haircut. After barber Kerri Wonsettler allegedly told Pecjak she doesn’t cut women’s hair, Pecjak filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs.
John Interval, the owner of Barbiere, claims he recommended Pecjak other hair salons nearby and offered to pay for her haircut elsewhere.
Regardless, the barbershop was fined $750 for gender discrimination.
Interval told the Observer-Reporter that requiring him to serve women is “infringing on our environment.”
“Guys come here as a kind of a little getaway, to be around other guys. My hands are tied. They are forcing me to do this and telling me how to do my business,” Interval said.
In an interview with KDKA, Interval stated, “I didn’t really consider it a discrimination thing so much as, you know, it’s a barbershop… For guys.”
“You know, like, I’m not opposed to doing women’s hair. Just not in this shop. And I want to open up a shop to cater to women, and then no men will be allowed there, and they’ll have all of the champagne and mimosas they want. That’ll be on the house.”
KDKA reports Interval said Barbiere does not have the equipment to perform women’s haircuts.