Famous gay bar in Los Angeles bans bachelorette parties until marriage becomes equal
Twice voted the best gay bar in the world, The Abbey in Los Angeles has banned all bachelorette parties until marriage becomes equal for gay couples.
David Cooley, founder and president of the bar, told CBS that he gets flooded with requests for bachelorette parties on Fridays and Saturdays. “I just felt after seeing so many bachelorette parties… having our wonderful straight girlfriends having a special time, a special night, having fun that it’s almost a slap in the face to my clientele,” Mr Cooley said.
“Myself being a gay person a kind of slap in my face that I couldn’t have that same experience,” he added. ““So I thought that I would put a ban on bachelorette parties until every person will have the right to have a marriage and be able to marry their loved one.”
Mr Cooley has also released a press statement, which he says intends to confront an “offensive heterosexual tradition [that] flaunts marriage inequality in the face of gays and lesbians”:
Every Friday and Saturday night, we’re flooded with requests from straight girls in penis hats who want to ogle our gogos, dance with the gays and celebrate their pending nuptials. They are completely unaware that the people around them are legally prohibited from getting married. Over the past 22 years, The Abbey has been a place that accepts everyone, gay, straight, lesbian, transgender, bisexual and everything in between. We love our straight girlfriends and they are welcome here, just not for bachelorette parties. It has long been a policy at The Abbey to deny admission to groups in costume, including Bachelorette regalia. Bachelorette parties had previously been allowed inside if they removed their costumes. The Abbey’s Bachelorette Ban comes on the heels of a ban on Gay Marriage in North Carolina and a number of other states across the south. The Abbey encourages other gay-owned and operated establishments to institute their own bans as a sign of solidarity until Marriage is legal everywhere for everyone.
PinkNews.co.uk understands that the bar’s patrons, both gay and straight, have welcomed the ban, saying it was time for those who frequent gay bars to stand up more fully for gay rights.
