Several women — some of whom have medical conditions — were rejected from a red-carpet screening of Carol at the 2015 Cannes Festival because they didn’t wear high-heeled footwear.

Updated May 20, 2015: According to the BBC, one of the women turned away from a red carpet event at Cannes was producer Valeria Richter, who is unable to wear high heels because part of her foot has been amputated.

Richter, who was eventually allowed to proceed to the screening of Gus Van Sant’s Sea of Trees, explains, “They pointed their finger at my shoe and then were waving their fingers at me. It was quite obvious it was my shoes that was an issue.”

Red carpet officials allegedly told her, “No, no, this won’t work, you can’t get in like this.”

Although the festival is claiming that high heeled footwear for women is not part of their official dress code, Richter says that not only was she herself almost denied entry because of her flat footwear, but “many of my colleagues who can’t wear heels were rejected and did not come in.”

Original story:

The 68th annual Cannes Festival in France has taken drastic measures to ensure the integrity of its institution. Notably, a “selfie ban” on the red carpet left celebrities at a loss, and Salma Hayek made headlines when she broke the ban (and since then, the rule has been pretty hit-or-miss).

However, a recent incident on the red carpet for the LGBT-friendly Carol has left people wondering if maybe Cannes’ desperate attempts to hold onto tradition are only serving to prove how very out of touch the festival is with its audience.

Related: The A.C.L.U. calls for gender discrimination inquiry in Hollywood, cites human rights violations

According to several news outlets, including The Independent, women were turned away for failing to comply with the festival-wide dress code, which states that women must wear high heels at red carpet events.

Some of the women rejected were in their 50s and above, and reportedly suffered from medical conditions. They were said to be wearing rhinestone flats — fancy shoes, just no heel.

It is ironic that this should happen at a screening for Carol, the Cate Blanchett-led movie about a woman in the 1950s who develops feelings for another woman.

The LGBT-friendly movie promotes equal rights for men and women, and promotes the exact tolerance which Cannes failed to offer its supporters.

Related: Hey Marvel, where’s your Black Widow merchandise? Sincerely, Mark Ruffalo

While both men and women have to meet the dress code requirements at red carpet events, this incident proves that Cannes Festival should perhaps re-think some of the gender-specific regulations that were set up in another time, when the world was a very different place.

Just as Cannes shouldn’t be able to dictate men and women’s choice of colors (pink is for boys, blue is for girls), wearing spikes on your feet should not be a pre-requisite for walking the red carpet as a female human.

This is, after all, a time in which both men and women are taking the industry to task whenever it tries to uphold outdated gender values. And as witnessed by the mass outrage this incident has sparked online, the world is more than ready for this divisive rule to change.