'Sadness' as Australian court rules against 'women only' art exhibit

Men visiting the Museum of Old and Modern Art in Tasmania, Australia will soon be allowed into its 'Ladies Lounge'. The museum has been ordered to make the change after a male visitor complained the women-only policy was discriminatory. Photo: MONA

An artist who banned men from seeing her Australian museum exhibit said on Thursday she was "saddened" by a court decision forcing her to admit "persons who do not identify as ladies".

Kirsha Kaechele set up the Ladies Lounge at Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), in part as a protest against discrimination and men's only social clubs, which existed for centuries virtually unchecked.