Gay couple kicked out of bar for kissing on the dancefloor

Hazys wrote: »

http://www.thejournal.ie/cork-bar-accused-of-kicking-gay-couple-out-for-kissing-207647-Aug2011/



Pretty f'd up in this day and age.

I live in the Massachussetts where gay marriage is legal and its not uncommon to see gay folks holding hands walking down the street without being bothered or anything.

In my home town Cork, it'd be very rare see to openly gay people on the street but even with that i'm still very suprised that there is that level of discrimination.

Even with the recognization of same-sex unions, i'd have to think Ireland is not as open to gay people as most other progessive countries.

I don't really think that's fair or accurate. I've lived in both Cork and MA and I don't really see a hell of a lot of difference in terms of attitudes to gay people. Perhaps Boston, having a metropolitan population of over 4.5 million, has a much larger gay community than Cork with a metropolitan population of about 400,000. I don't think that the attitudes were drastically different to be quite honest. I came across plenty of old-fashioned homophobia in Boston and much more than in Cork in small town MA.

Also, I think the incident is totally unrepresentative of Cork. In the space of <24 hours 4,668 people have signed the Facebook petition to boycott the bar!! The two student unions, the local media and pretty much everyone I know seems shocked by it. There is generally utter condemnation of the bouncer's actions.

So, I really don't think you can describe the city as homophobic!

As for Ireland - there's civil partnership, a very extensive Equal Status Act, there is no bar on homosexual military service people etc etc.

One bouncer's actions do not make a city!

stovelid wrote: »

So you know for certain that there was homophobic intent?

I was hoping the statement would elucidate more and in particular the lads involved would explain why they are now not pressing forward with the complaints given their earlier allegations and the very public campaign.

Not for certain, no. But no assurances that there wasn't any homophobic intent either. Ok, so they've said they're not "anti-gay" but that could just mean they don't mind gay people in the bar so long as they don't kiss or draw any attention to themselves.

Completely agree with the second half of your post. The statement really doesn't explain a whole lot.

The Old Oak apologised for any offence which was taken, but stressed that no offence whatsoever was meant or intended as we are not and never have been anti Gay.

So they've apologised for any offence that may have been caused. Fair enough. But they haven't admitted that they were in the wrong; they say "mistakes were made" but that's a very vague explanation at best. And I thought they might have thrown in a line assuring that this kind of thing wouldn't happen again.

I dunno, the statement seems like it was thrown together to say as little as possible. But as long as the two lads involved are happy enough with it, then that's the main thing I guess.

desertcircus wrote: »

The mind boggles. A pub which has pictures on its Facebook page of straight couples kissing in said pub kicks two men out after they kiss each other, and you're convinced heterosexuals are the ones getting a raw deal from this. It must take superhuman mental gymnastics to hold both that idea and the definition of reverse discrimination in the same mind.

The pub has no problem with heterosexual couples making out on its premises. A homosexual couple was thrown out for doing the same. And as for this defence of "it's fine to do it because the regulars would kick off", I presume it would be fine for a pub to have a sign at the door saying "NO BLACK FOLK, FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY"? Give me a break.

Enjoy your strawman.

This attitude really just saddens me and so do all the comments quick to jump in and say "HOUSE RULES!". I am sorry but 'house rules' or not that is shocking behaviour and I don't see how any person with any sense of compassion can try to defend blatant homophobia.

Who are the bouncers/management to say that a gay couple can't kiss while straight couples all around them could have been/have done before as mentioned in pictures the pub removed themselves? Reminds me of white people telling black people they couldn't sit on a bus, are we sad that Rosa took a stand over that as well?

Being a homophobe is the new being a racist obviously (as in widely more accepted).

TheZohan wrote: »

So the couple apologised for any offence they may have been caused. Fair enough. But they haven't admitted that they were in the wrong; they say "they could have handled things better" but that's a very vague explanation at best. And I thought they might have thrown in a line insuring that this kind of thing wouldn't happen again.

I dunno, the statement seems like it was thrown together to say as little as possible. But as long as bar is happy enough with it, then that's the main thing I guess.

:rolleyes: Oh I see what you did there!

If it was just a kiss then the couple have fúck all to apologise for. Admittedly though, I am a little suspicious as to why the couple were willing for the line about them making mistakes to be included in the statement. If it was more than just a kiss, and they were being disruptive or deliberately offensive, then I don't think anyone here would object to them being asked to leave. But that hasn't been confirmed anywhere; surely the pub would have used that defence straight away if it was true?

I dunno, they may have been better off if they just walked out of the pub after they got the first warning and went straight to the Equality Authority.

It'll probably become a gay bar now.