Something queer’s happening here.
Earlier we passed on an unseemly message posted at a NYC Rite Aid, which basically said gay touching ain’t cool in the pharmacy’s aisles.
Jeremy Hooper over at Good As You gave the store a ring-a-ding this morning and a store representative says the sign wasn’t part of their store and Tom Marquez, the alleged manager who signed the statement, is not “in anyway” an employee there.
Sounds like someone had way too much time on their hands this holiday weekend!
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.
[A few questions remain, however: if you look at the original picture, you can see what looks like a security grate behind the flier. If it went up after the store closed, who put it there? If it went up before the store closed, why did it remain?]
Update again! The original reader just wrote in and said not only were there four signs at the Rite Aid in question, but offers this queer detail: …”When I called yesterday to complain the woman at the Rite Aid told me that Tom Marquez wasn’t the store manager but the manager for the whole area. so I don’t think it’s a phony name…I think he’s definitely a real person. In the audio link the store employee doesn’t say she doesn’t know who Tom is, she only says he doesn’t work in that store. He’s probably regional management, but maybe someone put it up and just used his name.” There’s obviously some maniac on the loose in Manhattan. Everyone stay indoors!
duanereadefan
I actually just got a call back from a VP of Northeastern operations, after I filed a complaint with the executive offices. It seems that a former disgruntled employee did this to about 11 different Rite Aid stores in Manhattan to cause trouble for the boss who fired him, and Rite Aid.
This actually rings true to me. I don’t think anyone is actually stupid enough to post that in the West Village and sign their name to it.
hells kitchen guy
^^^ completely agreed. What store in the Village would be dumb enough to have that sign up for 1 minute? Another Internet hoax. Ha, ha!! We wuz all had.
jack
is this when NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP starts playing?
clarknt67
Not to bust your bubble HKG, but there’s not a hood in the world that’s completely insulated from homophobia. In fact, I got pushed around and harassed in your very hood for giving my date, what I assure you was a very chaste peck goodnight.
hell's kitchen guy
clarknt67: There’s a big difference between some private citizens doing some fag hassling (sorry it happened!) and a business – a major chain store, no less – putting up an inflammatory sign like this.
Reminds me of the Times article about Mt. Morris Park where someone circulated a ridiculously racist rant supposedly from someone in an upscale building. Shit like this happens all the time.
CHURCHILL-Y
Bullshiiiiiit! as luck would have it I happen to be visiting some family in NYC and decided to stop by the Rite Aid being discussed here. And the manager is indeed a Mr. Marquez who happens to be guess what!, a black man with a somewhat distinctively Spanish speaking accent that would explain his surname. The store needles to say is largely run by ethnic minorities. Now anyone who has been to that store knows that there is no way in hell that someone who’s not working there could’ve posted such vitriol on the windows since they have a security man there who monitors everything through a screen.
As a side note after visiting the Rite Aid I decided to walk some more through the neighborhood and to my joyful surprise started hearing what I thought seemed like an organized protest in front of the Jamaican owned GOLDEN KRUST but as I rushed in a hurry to cheer them on and possibly join them I was disillusioned to find out that it was not in front of the repulsive restaurant but in front of the Painters and Allied Traders district council 9 of NY building. Honestly whats becoming of what was once TERRA FIRMA for Gay people. Soon we will be getting stoned and mobbed by Jamaicans and African Americans in the West Village! What a shame.
Miss Thang
Miss CHURCHILL-Y,
African-Americans wouldnt stone you. Black Jamaicans would.
African-Americans are too busy dealing with racist Italian cops in New York City.
Jamaican Blacks kill gays in Jamaica. Some Jamaicans bring that same attitude over to the states.
Some Guy
I’ve heard of a similar “prank.”
There is a flyer floating around on the internet made to look like an official McDonald’s memo. It says something like, “Due to a string of recent robberies, African-American and Hispanic customers will be charged an extra $1.50.” And some people have printed them off and taped them to drive-through menus and doors.
This was probably the inspiration for the Rite Aid hoax.
clarknt67
hell’s kitchen guy: Well, my point is, you’re imagining Rite Aid runs a supertight ship. In fact, I managed a Rite Aid while working my way through college, and trust me, at least 15 years ago, there were no diversity days seminars and sensitivity training. Management training consisted of handing you a set of keys and telling you the safe combo. It’s believable some schmuck might have gone off-message to me. Especially if he was especially homophobic and didn’t appreciate what he saw in the west village.
I’m not saying that’s what happened, just it’s not at all an implausible scenario to me. We got bars in the Village that won’t let people in wheelchair in, even though that’s completely illegal.
RPCV
The answer? Go to Walgreen’s, instead.
RPCV
Oh, I just read #6. Marquez is a black? Can’t be – blacks aren’t prejudicial!! They’ve been so mistreated all their lives, and expect equlity and justice! How can a black or multiple blacks be discriminatory??? Isn’t that a contradiction – blacks = prejudicial??? Go figure………. I would have NEVER thunk it……….
Bottom line: Blacks are more racist than whites are. Yet they’re the ones who have gotten and continue to get all the legal protections, like affirmative action, voting rights act, etc., all of which should be abolished to create the level playing field.
B2B
http://www.metroweekly.com/gauge/?ak=3045
I don’t know how I feel about this being an epidemic, but the above link is a problem that happened here in DC involving a Rite Aid store kicking out a gay couple for touching.
Mr C
SORRY MISS R2D2 He isn’t Black,
It’s just your sister Churchychicken having a racial epilepsy fits as she usually does. And we are NOT the most racist people. But ignorant girls such as you and Churchychicken would feel as such.
Mr C
Wait girls,
Did Churchychicken just say she was in NYC? hahahaha Since when the low class Blue collar worker that she calls herself and claiming that Hillary is in her corner, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH can visit the Big Apple?
How did you get to NYC girl Greyhound, Trailways, or hitch hiking? It suits your liking.
Now this bitch sees a dark skinned Man and out of her mouth spews venon where it said the guys last name was hispanic (Not that it matters).
What the FUCK do you know about the West Village Churchychicken your kind isn’t welcomed there?
By the way BITCH All LGBT lives and congregate there
WHITE,BLACK,LATINO,ASIAN.
This isn’t Hickory Stick Kentucky where you live.
DUMB ASS Your Mother should be BITCH Slapped for even having you! Now everyone if the manager was White she would have paid it no mind. She sees dark skin, or at least claim to seen the person and her pimpled pussy gets all up in a twizzy.
ASSHOLE
alan
This is the answer I received after I complained to Rite-Aid via their website….
Let me assure you that were taking this matter very seriously. These signs
absolutely do not represent the view of Rite Aid nor the associate
identified. One of our core values is to be a place where all customers and
associates are treated with respect and dignity, where they feel appreciated
and welcome.
We are conducting an investigation regarding this matter as our findings
show that these signs were not posted by any current Rite Aid associates as
indicated. As soon as the signs were noticed, they were immediately removed.
We’ve notified the local authorities on this act of vandalism and are
offering our full support and cooperation so that the individuals
responsible for this act of intolerance can be prosecuted to the fullest
extent of the law.
Corey
Customer Support
sara
screw the sign. what’s with the racism on this web page?