Following in the steps of gay men who once boycotted Coors beer and Florida orange juice, local D.C. bars are now shunning Yuengling beer after owner Dick Yuengling endorsed Donald J. Trump for president.
David Perruzza, the manager of JR.’s Bar & Grill, sparked the movement by posting a video of himself literally removing Yuengling’s beer tap.
“So, Richard Yuengling and his company feel they should support Trump,” Perruzza says in the video. “Well, this is a gay bar. And I am a gay bar manager, and we do serve Yuengling, but, from this point on, because Trump has Pence, and Pence is one of the biggest idiots ever, and very anti-gay, probably one of the most anti-gay politicians ever, I am doing this.” He then unscrews the tap head.
“We’re saying ‘bye’ to Yuengling at JR.’s. Just so you know, when people support things that don’t support us, we don’t support them. So, goodbye, Yuengling, you are the weakest link.”
Other area gay bars have since followed suit on social media, including Level One, who wrote “In light of Yuengling’s support of Donald Trump & Mike Pence, whose anti-gay views are in direct contrast to the gay lifestyle, Level One will no longer sell their product,” and The Green Lantern, which notes it has “taken the Yuengling tap off the bar effective immediately.”
Number Nine posted a video to Facebook of one of their bartenders emptying out Yuengling bottles into two large orange buckets, with the caption: “Byeeeeeee.”
Floriana Restaurant’s Dito Sevilla posted the following on Facebook:
Jon Parks, general manager at Ziegfeld’s/Secrets, was torn over whether to pull the lager from his shelves, noting that Dick Yuengling did not say he was endorsing the Trump-Pence ticket because of anti-LGBT views. Still, after consulting owner Alan Carroll, Parks yanked Yuengling from the bar.
“This in some ways brings back that time when I lived in Hollywood, and I did indeed go down Hollywood Boulevard in protest of Anita Bryant’s ridiculousness,” says Parks, referring to the former Florida Citrus Commission spokesmodel who spearheaded a 1977 campaign to rescind an LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance in the state. The Yuengling boycott is the first he can remember based on a company’s support of a political candidate, rather than a company’s actions, such as support of an anti-gay ballot initiative. But he doesn’t foresee it setting off wars between liberals and conservatives over which bars they choose to support.
On my last day of junior high, my stepfather, my mother and I packed up the cars and drove south from Northern Virginia to Pasco County, Florida. The cultural adjustments were significant in both number and magnitude. For example, when we moved into Embassy Hills, I was 14 and easily the youngest person on our flat Florida block of single-story stucco homes. I believe my mother, at 52, was the youngest adult.
Prior to Pasco, my experience with very old adults had been limited mostly to senior relatives at family gatherings. My stepfather's retirement, however, put me squarely in their world. Early bird dinners, senior discounts, and mall walkers became fixtures in my new life.
Former First Lady Melania Trump will host a fundraiser for the gay conservative political group Log Cabin Republicans. It will be her first major political event of the year.
The fundraiser is set for April 20 at Mar-a-Lago, the resort where the Trumps reside. It will launch the Trump organization's "Road to Victory" program, which seeks to target swing-state voters.
Melania Trump has maintained a longstanding relationship with the Log Cabin Republicans, which endorsed her husband's 2020 bid and whose leaders have been among the former president's most stalwart defenders.
One Million Moms is accusing the Hilton hotel chain of attempting to "glamorize sin" for portraying people wearing gender-nonconforming attire and including a shot of a same-sex couple in one of its advertisements.
The commercial features hotel heiress Paris Hilton walking through a Hilton hotel lobby wearing a pink dress and carrying her dog.
Throughout the lobby, everyone -- men and women, including several celebrities and influencers -- are dressed in pink and have blond hair or wigs, repeating some of Paris's trademark catchphrases as they snap selfies, scroll social media, and preen in mirrors -- actions that are "on brand" with the heiress's public persona.
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