🚀 go-pugleaf

The story of my West Hollywood experience.


I enjoy the music of a particular band.  I am on their mailing list and I 
received a invitation to see them perform Saturday, April 22, at the Love 
Lounge, presented by Girl Bar.  I called the telephone number listed on 
the announcement to find out more about the club.  After I listened to 
the recorded announcement I was concerned that it was a Lesbian Bar and 
that the patrons might not make me feel welcome.  I had no other means to 
contact the club or promoters so I called the guitar player in the band.  
She assured me that I would have no problem as they would not play at any 
place that would discriminate.  She made it a point to say that they had 
played homosexual venues previously and they had no problems.  Happy with 
her answers I made plans to attend the performance.

I had difficulty finding the club and I ended up at Axis on La Peer.  I 
was directed to the bar, but I was told that the band I wanted to see was 
not playing there and that I probably wanted Cafe Luna.  I disregarded 
this and went to the Love Lounge on Robertson.  When I got there I was 
told at first that the band was not playing there.  Later they confirmed 
that indeed they were playing there but I would have to wait 15 minutes 
for the band to get ready.  As I was hungry and planned on drinking I 
went to the hamburger stand to get a bite to eat.  There I meet a young 
man that identified himself as an employee of Love Lounge.  At no time 
did he mention that I would not be allowed in.  My conversation with him 
was about the difficulty I had finding the club with the wrong street 
number.  

When I went back I lined up to gain admittance and once I got to the 
front of the line I had my identification ready to present to the 
bouncer.  He looked at it then at me and said that I could not go in.  I 
asked why and he said that it was a lesbian club and I was not a 
lesbian.  As he was saying this a gay man  happened to be leaving the 
club.  I asked him to get a manager for me to speak with and he said that 
he had no means of doing so.  He asked me to clear the way and wait on 
the sidewalk.  I again asked him to get a manager and he relented using a 
radio to do so.  

The manager said that I would not be allowed in and that I would have to 
leave.  I voiced my displeasure at his decision and he proceeded to say 
that I had a bad attitude and that I had been drinking.  He then said 
that I should leave the sidewalk and original doorman got in my face and 
pushed me with his chest.  I was told that if  I didnt leave I would  be 
detained by force and hurt in the process. 

Some West Hollywood Sheriffs had been across the street and I asked them 
about pressing assault and battery charges against the security and they 
said that I would be subject to what ever they said I did and that I 
could be arrested too.

I finally left stopping by Axis to obtain the managers name, he finally 
gave it to me.

I called ht bands guitar player when I got home and she called me the 
next day and she told me that it was the gig from hell.  She said that 
they later admitted straight males but they were asked to pay an 
arbitrary $15.00 entrance fee.  She said that they did not expect what 
happened and that they would never play there again.

I feel that I am probably as non-homophobic and pro-homosexual as a 
person could be and I was astonished that I was treated so poorly.  I 
called a friend and he told me that gay mens clubs also discriminate 
against women  typically by having a policy against open toed shoes.  To 
me the West Hollywood community stands for fighting injustice and 
discrimination. If the shoe was on the other foot and a gay person was 
not allowed into a strait club for the same reason it would be an instant 
protest from the gay community.  I have been all over this nation and 
around this world and I have never experienced such blatant 
discrimination, even in the southern states.