Homestate Shame

Bigotry lives on: Gay couple barred from dancing in a Texas country Western bar, told it's "unacceptable"

After being ejected from a nightclub in Victoria — little more than two hours southeast of Houston — a young gay couple is trying to fight back against bigotry.

Twenty-one-year-old Justin Meyer of Victoria and his boyfriend of nine months, 30-year-old James Douglas of Karnes City, were simply dancing to a country song at the Cactus Canyon Club when the couple was told by management that it was against the club's policies for two men to dance to country music together.

"He told me they have a policy that states that they don't allow males to dance with males to country songs," Douglas tells KAVU-TV. "I said, 'Just country?' and he said, 'Yes.' "

After the pair was told they couldn't dance together to country music, Douglas proceeded to close his bar tab and went to ask management for proof of the bar's policy. Meyer's request was quickly denied and the bar manager insists this is when a confrontation took place — although Meyer vehemently denies this — and that confrontation was the reason the couple was asked to leave the club and were issued a "no trespassing" warning.

"It's not acceptable for men to dance together in the type of business that we run."

A corporate spokesperson for Cactus Canyon, Roger Gearhart, said that there is a policy prohibiting men from dancing together, but that the couple was asked to leave for being confrontational and disruptive and not because of their orientation.

"For many decades, it's acceptable for women to dance together in all kinds of clubs, but it's not acceptable for men to dance together in the type of business that we run," Gearhart told KAVU.

The openly gay couple says they were discriminated against for their sexual orientation. "Why should we feel like we are afraid to go out in public just because of the way we were born?" Douglas asks.

This incident is just the latest high-profile incident of its kind.

A Chicago taxi driver told a kissing gay couple to get out of his vehicle in October, as detailed by the Chicago Tribune.

A janitor at an Oklahoma Walmart asked a gay couple to leave while they were buying cookies, according to a report by the Express-Star in Chickasha. The janitor was soon fired.

A country-Western bar in San Antonio kicked out a gay couple for dancing and cited the same "safety reasons" provided by Cactus Canyon, according to QSanAntonio.

Meyer says he had been visiting Cactus Canyon since he was 18-years-old. "I'm just kind of shocked," he says. "They know my face, I've been here hundreds of times and it was just really hurtful that we couldn't dance together."

Justin Meyer and James Douglas were told to leave the Cactus Canyon nightclub after they danced together to a country song.

Photo courtesy of KAVU

Justin Meyer and James Douglas were told to leave the Cactus Canyon nightclub after they danced together to a country song.

unspecified

Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

undefined

Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”