A North Carolina bar is facing national backlash after the owner asked a gay couple to leave.
Andrew Deras and Justin Baker were forced to leave Louie’s Sports Pub in Fayetteville last week after owner Pam Griffin asked the couple to stop kissing. Deras and Baker apparently shared a short kiss when Griffin approached them to complain.
“He put his arm around me, he gave me a kiss, and she said this wasn’t right, this wasn’t OK,” Deras told WRAL. “She threatened both of us. He gave me a kiss. It was very minor. It was just a peck. It was two seconds.”
Griffin approached the men with a security guard after receiving complaints from customers, “eight or nine” according to The Fayetteville Observer. “They came to me and said, ‘Pam, you got a problem out here and it’s going to get ugly.'”
According to Griffin, customers were complaining over the couple’s affection towards one another. “I walked up to them calmly. I asked them guys, you know, can you kind of just separate, kind of move apart?” she said. She told the pair that she didn’t care if they remained in the bar, but asked them to “just calm down because you’re making people feel uncomfortable.”
Both sides disagree on what happened next. Griffin maintains that the men cursed at her and started to aggressively kiss one another. Deras and Baker claim that they laughed at her request and shared another kiss.
“I just gave Andrew a kiss, and that’s when she started getting really crazy,” said Baker. “She’s saying, ‘This is enough. This is enough,’ like basically telling us to get out.”
The bar’s Facebook page has since been inundated with comments from gay people angry with Griffin’s treatment of the couple. Griffin stated that someone called and threatened to burn the bar down, while she’s also received death threats.
“I tried to be as nice as I could. This is a straight bar. I don’t mind who comes in – white, black, mixed, Chinese,” she said. “Everybody’s welcome. But you have to respect the kind of place you’re in.”
Masked attackers in Israel are reportedly using Grindr to lure and entrap members of the LGBTQ community to severely harm them.
According to reports, the assailants are creating fake profiles on the popular dating app and arranging meetings in remote locations in the city of Haifa.
The victims are then ambushed and reportedly stabbed with sharp weapons. A few assailants have attempted to carry out lynchings.
The Aguda, an LGBTQ task force, documented at least ten such incidents in recent months, reports the Jerusalem Post.
But some victims have chosen not to report the attacks, making it more difficult for police to track down and arrest offenders.
A popular LGBTQ nightclub in Sacramento, California, is prohibiting patrons who wear MAGA-related attire from entering the establishment.
Badlands, in the city's Lavender Heights district, announced the policy on social media. Management claimed they were motivated to impose the ban after a patron wore a MAGA hat while in the bar, leading some patrons to complain that they were made to feel uncomfortable and unsafe.
"At Badlands Sacramento, we are committed to creating a space where the LGBTQ+ community and our allies feel safe, welcomed, and respected," TJ Bruce, the bar's owner, wrote in a social media post. "Recently, a guest entered the bar wearing MAGA attire, which led to some discomfort among patrons.
Donnell Jetters, of Waco, Texas, was arrested after he fired a gun at a relative who came out as gay.
On March 14, around 9 p.m., police officers were dispatched to a home in the North Lake Waco section of the city in response to a report of a disturbance involving a gun.
The victim in the case called 9-1-1 after escaping from the home but returned to the scene shortly after officers arrived. Investigators discovered that Jetters and the victim, who was a family member, had gotten into an argument after the latter came out as gay.
The family member told police they left the residence after hearing Jetters cocking a pistol. They claimed he later pointed the weapon at them while they were fleeing, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
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