What reasons do most companies give for night hiring someone for discriminatory reasons?

[Locut0s]

Ok so racial, sexual and other discriminatory hiring practices are illegal. but lets face it companies discriminate all the time. It's no coincidence that just about ever waiter and waitress in all the high end bars and restaurants are young, handsome, and sexy. The owner of a Japanese restaurant is more likely to hire Japanese or Asian staff, having joe blow behind the counter making your sashimi doesn't lend the restaurant that air of authenticity after all no matter how good he may be. If I was the owner of a trendy salon or sex shop somewhere down town I might choose to hire gay men instead of straight to cater to a given female customer base. These are mostly just common buisness practices. Question is what excuses do they usually give for not hiring someone they are discriminating against?

I'm not arguing that real discrimination is right, I don't really feel most of these practices count as real discrimination but legally there's not much different about them.

[Massacure]

1. Restaurants hire who they think are personable.

And from a certain point of view, its not unreasonable to believe that managers who find a lot in common with someone will find that person to be "personable". It's also would not be a stretch of the imagination to say that a manager will have more in common with someone of his own race and gender than someone who is not.

I would bet in many cases this type of decision making is subconscious though. I don't really think it is possible to 'correct' it.

[sandnsea]

2. I thought "image' hiring is legal

Wasn't there an Abercrombie & Fitch law suit, or Hooters, or something that ruled companies can hire based on some "image" they're trying to project.