Bar faces national backlash for throwing gay couple out
The owner has come under fire after throwing a gay couple to out of her bar.
Pam Griffin – owner of Louie’s Sports Pub in North Carolina – claims that she has received threats from across the country via social media after the incident made the news.
According to media reports, Andrew Deras and Dustin Baker, say that Griffin through them out for nothing more than a “2-second peck|”.
“He put his arm around me, he gave me a kiss, and she said this wasn’t right, this wasn’t OK,” said Mr Deras.
“She threatened both of us. He gave me a kiss. It was very minor. It was just a peck. It was two seconds.”
“I was just completely disgusted and taken aback.”
However, Griffin says that due to complaints from other customers she said she simply asked the couple to “cool it”.
“I walked up to them calmly. I asked them guys, you know, can you kind of just separate, kind of move apart?”
“I don’t care if you stay and drink. We don’t need to be doing that, and just calm down because you’re making people feel uncomfortable.”
She says the pair responded by giving each other a “big kiss.”
“Because I’m certainly allowed to,” Mr Barker later wrote on Facebook.
“That’s when she started getting really crazy”, he said of Griffin’s reaction.
“She’s saying, ‘This is enough. This is enough,’ like basically telling us to get out.”
Griffin said the couple were not thrown for being gay, but because they were not polite enough to do the decent thing and hide it.
“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.
“Everybody’s welcome. But you have to respect the kind of place you’re in.” she told ABC news.
The pub’s Facebook page has since received dozens of comments attacking Griffin and her treatment of the young couple.
Last week, a student from South Carolina was suspended for wearing a ‘Nobody Knows I’m a Lesbian’ T-shirt.
Briana Popour – an openly gay teenager at Chesnee High School – was reportedly told by teaching staff: “You need to change your shirt or go home.”
