Everyone’s a critic! A San Antonio barman banned an artist’s work for being “gay”. Joe Blue’s opens its walls to artists once a month and Marc Arevalo hoped his would hang, too.
Thus, he brought some prints in for the owner but was told to keep walking. Now’s he’s got the anti-gay blues:
He just said they looked too much like drag queens, and he didn’t want to attract that type of clientele to the establishment. Of course, right then and there, I felt really offended.
Marketing manager Alicia Alvarez concedes the owner had his doubts because the images were “a little on the gay side”, but claims the bar welcomes the queers:
I would not say that he doesn’t want them [gays] in this bar. That unfortunately did get misrepresented. And he does feel really badly the way the words came out.
Alvarez also points out that Arevalo didn’t have a contract with the bar. Not that it matters, this is the best publicity in the world.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Check out Arevalo’s amazing prints here!
[Note: You’ll notice we changed the accompanying image. We erroneously posted a picture by Erwin Olaf. Arevalo’s can be seen above. If you liked Olaf’s, check out his website!]
Beatniknight
I dunno, it seems like the bar owner’s complaint about the artwork was valid. The fact that his bar has a primarily straight crowd doesn’t mean that he doesn’t welcome gay people, but it does mean that putting up pictures which look awful gay could potentially confuse some of his customers. The bar owner is obviously most interested in the money that his bar will generate for him, and the last thing he wants is for his primarily straight customer base to leave. His personal opinions or feelings about homosexuality are probably second, in his mind, to what he thinks will make him a profit.
gaybot
I’m trying to see where Beatniknight is coming from, but discrimination is discrimination. To downplay one type of discrimination is to downplay sexism, racism, ageism and any other form of oppression, which I seriously can not do. Second of all, Joey just recently went on record and compared his bars to Bennigan’s and Bill Miller’s (hold on while I puke at the idea that I have been seen drinking at all three of his establishments.) He compares himself to a BB-Q chain and a crappy restaurant. EEEEWWWWHHHH!!! The PR person for Joe Blues (who is filled with crap and who magically appeared) said this is the best publicity ever! Wow, she probably can’t read or is too dense to realize she is working for a homophobe whose name is raising eyebrows for all the wrong reasons. She’d probably say Hitler, wasn’t such a bad guy either. I hope Joey enjoys his bar’s gay-free environment because I my friend, am keeping a close eye, and if I see one girl/guy who might even seem like they had one gay thought once in their life, I’m walking straight up to them and getting their ass out of your bar! Our money shouldn’t fill your pockets!
ryanlw
Hello I am Ryan Whittington, the photographers boyfriend, the model in the picture and p.r. director for his gallery. I am writing to those of you on here that have been a little mislead or have simply missed the point, especially Beatnikknight. For one, this story only gives you a small piece of the information you would have to read all the news stories to get a clearer view. Also Marc is not an out and proud gay guy, in fact most people had no idea until this happened, so he did not use the omg he’s a homophobe shtick. In Fact we never called him a homophobe. This is simply about principal in how we treat one another, and while he does have every right to show what ever he wishes, he chose to say he wanted nothing that would invite a gay clientele, he also said I don’t want those people in my bar. Now this bar is located in the very center of the Blue Star Arts Complex made up of nearly 50% gay people, not to mention founded, built, owned, and run by Gay people and is located in one of the most popular gay neighborhoods in the state. On any night of the week he has nearly half gay patron-ism to his bar. So why is it all right that he insult the very people paying his bills. Now this complex is also a CONTEMPORARY arts complex, showing more contemporary art at one time than any other city on the planet, since when did it become o.k. to censor art, especially in a place that has made it standard to introduce people to the unknown, and by the way maybe you should take a closer look at the picture and the others all of them are recreations of paintings of the youth of European aristocrats from the Victorian era. If He doesn’t want a gay clientele than he should move out of the gayborhood, and if he does not understand art than he shouldn’t show it. So beatnikknight I suggest that you just keep your mouth shut because you too run the risk of sounding like a bigot. Wouldn’t you say