| Below is the response from the Union Bar Lounge regarding the story of their turning away GLBT persons at their bar last night: 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.”
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.
Their note highlights a conflict of stories from the accounts of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus. I cannot speak to what happened Friday night, as I was not there. What happens -- if anything -- from here on out, I can't say. But I think that for the Houston GLBT Political Caucus to say they had "nearly 100" and for the Union Bar to say that they showed up with 200 is a dramatic difference in the facts. However, I think it is a positive sign that the Union Bar responded relatively quickly to the uproar over last night's incident, and it is encouraging to see that they are willing to talk about this more going forward. And there may be a place for them to speak up going forward -- Equality Texas believes that last night's events shine a light of importance to legislation they are trying to pass: Refusal to Open Doors to Gay and Lesbian Patrons Reveals Need to Pass HB 2215 Public Accommodations Nondiscrimination Law
It was a dark and rainy night in Houston Friday. Despite being contacted in advance about the first ever “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, members of the Houston gay community were refused entrance to the Union Bar.
Equality Texas board Vice-Chair Rob Scamardo and Equality Texas Legislative Committee Chair Rob Caballero were both unable to gain entrance to the bar. Rob Caballero was in the front of the line with Guerrilla Gay Bar organizer Joel Atkins and asked why they were not being allowed in. They were told they wanted to keep a ratio of females to males. Meanwhile women who identified upon questioning that they were with men were waived through. Reasons of keeping a good female/male ratio were hollow as at that time the bar was fairly empty. More details of the night's events are outlined in the Houston GLBT Political Caucus' press release - http://tinyurl.com/HGLBTPCpressrelease
This type of service refusal exemplifies the need for the passage of a statewide law that would prohibit discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. Representative Jessica Farrar's HB 2215 would do just this. Whether it is Houston or whether it is Midland, no one should be refused service from a business just because of their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. In the 21st century, it is time that I walk into a restaurant, bar, or business establishment without worrying about being denied service.
Perhaps the bill provides a good opportunity for Union Bar and other small businesses around the state to show that they are, indeed, open and welcoming to all men and women (of legal age) in Texas. As I said before, we'll have to see what happens next... |
