Gay couple kicked out of bar for kissing on the dancefloor

"I DON’T care what people do as long as they don’t do it in the
streets and scare the horses."

That was the view of the famous English stage actress Mrs Patrick Cambell
on homosexual canoodling when she learned that an elderly actor had the
hots for a young male trouper.

Chances are she would have been bemused by plans to hold a “maul-fest”
or “kiss-in” at the Old Oak pub in Cork on Saturday.

That’s the latest salvo being fired in a battle by gay rights activists to
highlight what they see as discrimination against a gay male couple ejected
from the bar.

One of the pair, a 21-year-old student at Cork Institute of Technology,
said he was asked to leave the Old Oak on Oliver Plunkett Street by a
security person after being warned twice for kissing another man.

The student was in the Old Oak at 1.30am on Saturday enjoying a live
music session.

He said he and the other man had a brief kiss, away from the dance floor,
when he was told by a member of security that they would be asked to
leave if it happened again.

The two men then kissed on the dance floor and the student said he was
immediately approached by the security person and told to leave.

He said: “I was absolutely shocked that it happened. I still cannot quite
believe it. This is the 21st century — these things should not happen in
modern Ireland. Gay people are not second-class citizens.”

Bar owner Ger Kiely couldn’t agree more and he is determined to find out
exactly what happened by meeting the two young men face-to-face and
interviewing the doorman involved.

“If we are wrong, we are wrong and I have no problem admitting that, if
that is the case, but I must, to be fair to everyone, find out exactly what
happened. I want to meet with the two lads myself. I want to listen to
them and hear what they have to say. That is the decent thing to do.”

In the meantime, he is anxious to defend his and his pub’s reputation as a
venue open to all.

“In the 20 years we have been operating here, we have never
discriminated against anyone — customers or staff — on the grounds of
their sexual orientation. “We have never been anti-gay or anything like it.
In fact, when we started out we had a number of gay staff members and
that was at a time when it was far more difficult for gay people in Ireland.

“We have a lot of gay customers. We hold regular nights for gay customers
and, as a live music venue, we have gay bands playing and we advertise
and promote them. We also have regular ‘L Nights’ for lesbian customers.
They have stopped for the summer but we will be looking at doing them
again in the autumn.

“It is totally and utterly untrue to say we are in any way homophobic.

“We recently did a charity night for the gay community and we didn’t
charge a cent, even though it was a Saturday night, which is normally one
of our busiest.”

Mr Kiely said he found some of the comments posted on Facebook and
other social network sites to be deeply upsetting.

“Some of the stuff on the internet is absolutely beyond disgraceful and
totally untrue.”

The pub’s own Facebook page, where many had left comments voicing
their anger at last Saturday’s events, was deleted on Monday night.

Speaking on behalf of the college student, CIT Students’ Union president
Chris Scanlon said he believed the pair had been wronged.

“We are seeking vindication for the student who has chosen not to talk to
the media. Once the owner of the Old Oak issues a public apology, the
whole thing will be cleared up.”

However, he stressed that the students’ union had no involvement in any
plans for a protest at the Old Oak or had anything to do with proposals for
a “maul-fest” due to be held there next Saturday.