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North Carolina bar faces national backlash after owner throws gay couple out
A bar in Fayetteville in the US state of North Carolina has come under fire after its owner told a gay couple to leave.
Pam Griffin, owner of Louie’s Sports Pub, said she has received threats from across the country via social media after the incident made the news.
Griffin and the couple however have different stories about what happened.
According to media reports, Andrew Deras and Dustin Baker, who have been together for the past few months, said it was just 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 Deras, who was visiting from California. ‘She threatened both of us. He gave me a kiss. It was very minor. It was just a peck. It was two seconds.’
Griffin said other customers were complaining and so she said she 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?’
She told WRAL News, ‘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 said they then laughed and gave each other another ‘big kiss.’
Barker said he just gave Andrew another kiss, because ‘I’m certainly allowed to,’ he said in a Facebook post after the incident, the Fayetteville Observer reported.
‘That’s when she started getting really crazy’, he said.
‘She’s saying, “This is enough. This is enough,” like basically telling us to get out.’
The couple said they didn’t feel like complying, especially since they say their initial display of affection was a two-second-long peck so they paid their bill and left.
Griffin said the couple weren’t asked to leave because they are gay but because they were causing a disturbance.
She told ABC News, ‘It was only one reason why they were asked to go, when they disrespected and flipped me off, cussing and interlocked in a very deep kiss, then yes, I am going to ask you to go cause I have numerous customers complaining,’ she said.
She added that should a heterosexual couple acted similarly, she would have asked them to stop.
The pub’s Facebook page has since received dozens of comments deploring the owner’s treatment of the gay couple.
The post North Carolina bar faces national backlash after owner throws gay couple out appeared first on Gay Star News.
Sylvia Tan
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