From KHOU-Ch.11:
To watch the news video:
It happened around 10 p.m. [on a rainy and cold night] at the Union Bar. Hundreds of people were lined up to go inside, but many of them were turned away.
“We were made to stand in line, and the line grew and grew,” Kris Banks of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus said.
“They switched over after a while to just kind of pointing at a sign that said at the bottom, ‘We have the right to refuse service to anyone,’” Banks said. “Any time that it appears that someone is discriminating against us, it’s something that we don’t want to take anymore.”
But the bar’s owner said it was all a big misunderstanding, and apologized for the incident.
He said since the bar opened late last fall, it has been booked solid with private parties.
The bar is small, with a total occupancy of 117 people.
The owner said private parties often fill the bar before the doors open to the public.
Friday night, the group hoping to get inside were part of Houston’s first “Guerilla Gay Bar,” a social event where gays and lesbians head to a straight bar for a night out.
“It’s a tongue-in-cheek name for something that really is a fun social event and is very popular and very successful in most cities,” civil rights attorney Jerry Simoneaux said.
Owners at the Union Bar were approached about it Thursday and reserved 50 seats inside.
Word spread, and in the end, they simply couldn’t accommodate the crowds.
The bar’s owner said no one was turned away because of their sexual orientation.
“What Union Bar did was, technically, in line with the law. They had the right to do that,” Simoneaux said.
The bar’s owner said his establishment has always been gay friendly, and he’s willing to prove it.
He said he plans to reach out to Houston’s gay community and meet with the planner of the Guerilla Gay Bar event Monday to clear up what he insists is just a misunderstanding.
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