Oh, what a night, but the feelin’ ain’t right … at least not in Minnesota. Reason TV picks its Nanny of the Month, and this time the culprit is in my back yard. James Kirkpatrick, the Commissioner of Human Rights in Minnesota, declared that Ladies Nights promotions discriminate against men and are therefore illegal in the state. So much for sophisticated mamas at the nightclubs:

Did any men actually complain about this? The entire idea of Ladies Night is to attract women to nightclubs, which usually have more men than women, and so the single men actually benefit (in general, at least socially) from the promotions. Does it discriminate? Sure, and so do coupons, frequent-flier programs, and a lot of actual public programs, even here in Minnesota, especially on the basis of ethnicity and gender. In this case, these are private enterprises offering promotions in which no one has to involuntarily participate. If men don’t like Ladies Nights, they can take their business elsewhere — which makes the gender distribution even more favorable to those who remain during the promotions.

If the sum total of human-rights issues in Minnesota comes down to Ladies Nights in bars and nightclubs, Kirkpatrick makes a great argument — for eliminating his office.

Meanwhile, Kool & The Gang may have originated the song, but it always reminds me of this scene from The Wedding Singer, in which Jon Lovitz hilariously portrays a sleazy lounge singer: