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Guerilla Gays turned away from Houston bar
March 14th, 2009Houston’s first Guerilla Gay Bar event apparently didn’t go too well.
About 100 gays were turned away from the Union Bar and Lounge in Midtown on Friday night, according to a press release from the Houston GLBT Political Caucus. Guerilla Gay Bar participants were made to wait in line when they started arriving at the bar, which was mostly empty at the time, while straight-appearing people were allowed in, the press release states. The growing crowd of gays gathered outside in the rain was told by employees that the bar was trying to maintain a “ratio.” This is despite the fact that Guerilla Gay Bar organizers had contacted the owner in advance, and were told they would be welcomed. The press release states that Houston is the only major city in Texas that doesn’t prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in public accommodations, meaning there may be no legal recourse. However, a protest reportedly is being planned outside the bar tonight. Read the full press release after the jump.
Also, here’s a link to the Facebook page for the group “Union Bar Houston – We Will Not Go There.”
MIDTOWN BAR REFUSES GAY PEOPLE
Gays made to wait in rain as others admitted
Nearly 100 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people were refused entry to Union Bar and Lounge in Midtown Friday while others were welcomed.
Patrons started lining up at about 9:40 p.m. and were told to wait in line and not allowed inside, even as straight-appearing people were waved through. As the line grew and patrons waited in the rain, employees at the door told those who were that they were maintaining a “ratio.†Later, the bar employees simply indicated they had the right to refuse anyone.
“I was shocked to be a victim of that kind of discrimination in a city like Houston in 2009,†said Neal Falgoust, a Houston law student. “I have never experienced anything like that before in my life.â€
A patron who arrived at the bar early reported that the bar was nearly empty at about 9:40 p.m., when gay people started arriving and were stopped at the door.
Gay people continued to line up to the street and around the corner as people who appeared to be straight went to the front and were ushered in. Kris Banks, who stood at the front of the line, said the bar employees were asking the women who were entering with men if the men were accompanying them. If the men were with the women, they were allowed in.
“I arrived and heard that they were not allowing gay men in, so when I got to the door with three women I asked if we would be allowed in, and the door employee said ‘I was told to keep you out,’ †said Lindsey Dionne. “This was supposed to be a social event, but now it’s political.â€
That this kind of discrimination is still legal in Houston makes it more outrageous. A coalition of GLBT rights groups, including the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, the Houston Stonewall Young Democrats, the Harris County Impact Houston and Amicus at South Texas College of Law said Saturday that the incident is proof of the necessity of legal protections for sexual orientation and gender identity for public accommodations.
“Houston is the only major city in Texas without a law that prevents this kind of discrimination,†said Jerry Simoneaux, GLBT civil rights lawyer. “This incident is exactly the reason Houston should implement such an ordinance.â€
The event was organized as Houston’s first “Guerilla Gay Bar,†a tongue-in-cheek event that has been popular in other cities in which GLBT individuals come to traditionally straight bars to interact with other communities. Though Guerilla Gay Bars are usually a surprise event in other cities, Houston organizers informed the bar owner in advance out of courtesy and were told they would be welcomed.
March 14th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
There seems to be some confusion as to what happened at Union Bar Lounge last night. The owner seems eager to try to fix it, and indeed on yelp.com an organizer(?) says:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/union-bar-lounge-houston#hrid:BdSomt2Q8UaEbGvq1sTuGA
“As an active member of the gay and lesbian community I need to chime in here. We targeted union bar last night as part of our gay awareness program. I really don’t like to do this to “known” gay friendly bars. Union is gay friendly by the way! We had all met prior Thursday at Montrose Mining Company to discuss the plan. What we do is go to a straight bar and “rush’ the door. Confuse eveyone and then cause a big scene to get people aware that in 2009 Gay pride is stronger then ever. To again promote gay awareness. Sadly some of my boys took it a little to far and started yelling at the door boys and managers. I understand that they never thought 150 gay men and women would come all at once. No one was turned away as I later found out they were full and couldn’t let anyone else in. Myself and Devon came back to union later that night and had a really nice time. Loved the free shots! The music was good and everyone was having a good time without the drama we had caused prior in the evening. I for one will not take part of the Gay Bar awareness program. Its hurting business and we are taking it to far. Union Bar is 1000% Gay friendly.
Union Bar on behalf of the gay and lesbian community, myself and my partner, we apologize for the nonsense and silliness we caused last night.”
While the idea of “Gays Not Allowed In Bar” is no doubt headline worthy, perhaps this story needs some further research to see if this really what happened.
For the record, I am a gay man in Nashville TN who saw the story as it hit the blogsphere. Out of curiousity I followed up with the owner, who seemed distraught with the story, and the idea that he was anti-gay. I hope you will follow up with both patrons who were turned away, and with the owner, to get a clearer picture of what occurred.
March 14th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Regarding the night of Friday 3-10-2009. “The staff and management at Union Bar are very apologetic for the misunderstanding that happened at their place of business. Union Bar in no way refuses entry to any persons due to sexual orientation, race, gender or religion. We do have a capacity of 117 persons as set forth by the City Of Houston and The Fire Marshal. We follow this guild line to the letter for guest and employee safety. This was the main factor or refusing entry Friday night. Persons have booked parties 6 to 7 weeks in advance and have limited of RSVP so their guests have the right to entry first. The Guest in question was allowed to bring his 50 RSVP guest. His party showed up at 10 with approximately 200 guests and could in no way accommodate that. We offered to take all 50 guests and he demanded that we let in all. Accordance to city code we could not allow this. At no time was the staff of Union Bar rude or uninventive to their needs while inside. At 10pm we were almost at capacity and the enclosed pictures will show that (1) We were almost full (2) We had a very high numbers of male guests that were not turned away.â€
We would be open to speak with the GL community on this and help prove to the G&L committee that we are a gay friendly bar!
If you have any questions please contact Union Management for further assistance.
March 15th, 2009 at 2:33 am
As an editor and reporter for NowPublic.com, I would have to ask why this business does not answer my calls? I have tried to investigate this to view both sides of the story, yet this businees WILL NOT return calls… only receive and answering machine.
View our story here:
http://my.nowpublic.com/world/go-bar-houston-texas-not-if-you-are-gay-updated
Thanks,
Cypresso
March 15th, 2009 at 8:03 am
People I do not understand why you would want to go to a bar where you are not wanted. That does not seam to be the case here. The Bar was just Full. In that case Find Another Bar. There are so a lot of Bars In Houston.
March 15th, 2009 at 10:08 am
Guerilla Gay Dallas has had several outings with little incident. Did the Houston guys pick a venue too small for their group? Did they stray too far away from the RSVP list? Was this truly discrimination? There are too many variables that could have made this first outing a disaster. It would be so easy to blame the bar and then start protesting like crazy but I like to know the full story before I put my full heart into it.
March 15th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Well I can tell you from being there on Friday night and there was no one in the bar. I only waited about 5 minutes because it was raining and once I heard the door guy say that we aren’t letting any of “yall” in. At the point I returned to my car and went on to another bar. Now, I also know that from the the few people that did make it in bar that there were very people in the bar and that only one table was reserved for a party outside the events table. Now, I personally was insulted not b/c I couldn’t spend my $$$ at this bar, but because in 2009 we still deal with these kind of issues. I am keenly aware that Union Bar was told about the event but yet in still the treated people very poorly. By admission the event had 50 reserved spots, but only 10-15 people actually made it inside. So don’t believe the hype, Union Bar and its owner think that they could just do whatever and that we as a community would do nothing about it. I think that this perception will change in the future. I hope for there sake that they make the appropriate changes for the future or consequently they will no longer be in business in Houston.
PS- The word is already out no only amongst our community, but also with our straight counterparts that many of us happen to be friends with and they have vowed support for us as well.
March 15th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
What bar limits entry to their posted capacity? Union Bar’s ad on eventective.com says they can accommodate up to 300.
http://www.eventective.com/USA/Texas/Houston/290780/Union-Bar-and-Lounge.html
March 16th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Whatever Jim, the Union Bar is a distillery of douche! Massengil and Summer’s Eve called, they want their lavender scent back. I’m calling all my peeps to boycott. Once the gays turn their back on you, it’s a snowball effect (a bedazzled snowball).