Cross-posted from Burnt Orange Report
Join the Facebook group "United Against Union Bar" if you want to speak up against what happened.
The Union Bar Lounge in Houston, Texas denied entrance to nearly 100 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, according to a press release issued by the Houston GLBT Political Caucus.
"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."
The group arrived at the Union Bar Lounge as part of Houston's first "Guerilla Gay Bar."
[It is] 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.
However, tipping off the bar apparently is what led to the discrimination:
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.
[snip]
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.
There are many, many comments on the bar's Yelp.com page about this -- including this one from Marc. C:
I was also there last night at about 10:00 pm with a group of gay guys and was refused entry while the bar was dead and empty inside. I was told by rude doormen that they "had the right to refuse entry to anyone." However, they were letting several couples, single women and single men not in our group in the bar.
THIS BAR DISCRIMINATES BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION!!!!
NEVER GO TO THIS BAR.
And, again, if you want to call the club and ask them about what happened yourself, their number is: 281.974.1916.
11:28pm Update
I just received notice of the Union Bar's following statement about last night's events. I reprint their response in full:
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