A Montreal gay bar is facing a human rights complaint after refusing to serve a female patron.

Audrey Vachon, a 20-year-old college student and her father entered Le Stud to kill some time. But once on the patio, the waiter told her women are not welcome in the establishment.

Vachon told the Montreal Gazette "on the spot I didn't believe it, I thought it was a bad joke".

Bar owner Michel Gadoury defended the bar's decision on Radio-Canada, "we're not discriminating, women have the right to come on certain days...it's a choice, it's a choice that my clients make, that they ask me to make, and we're respecting them".

Le Stud is located in Montreal's gay community. Some nearby businesses don't see a problem with females entering their establishments but others justify the bar's decision with an analogy.

Hans Janiak of Quebec's gay chamber of commerce told the Gazette that "it's not a phenomenon unique to the gay and lesbian community".

He pointed out businesses often ban people based on their gender to help customers feel comfortable. He used the examples of women's gyms that refuse men, and strip bars that ban women.