[public] beating

I don't know if you've been following the [public] bar vs lesbians saga, but I couldn't manage to write it up in an in-depth balanced way without getting tl;dr, so you should definitely supplement this with additional googling if you're interested. Yes, my blog now requires homework.

Here's my best attempt at being succinct: Young couple complains online about being kicked out of [public] bar for kissing while gay. Bouncer tells them they wouldn't have been removed if they were straight. Support snowballs online; issue gets picked up by mainstream media. Girls are barraged by homophobic internet commenters, snarky reporters and accused of lying because they don't have 'proof'. Girls get exhausted, sick of being harassed, decide to withdraw complaint, go home, and eat ice cream. Naysayers rejoice. 


I have only three things to say.


1. What kind of 'proof' do these accusers want to establish that they're not lying? DNA samples? Fingerprints? This isn't CSI, it was a verbal dispute. And unless you believe in some kind of underground gay agenda, it seems the one with the motivation to lie would be the bouncer who wanted to save his job.
Add to that the fact that we know lesbians are very often discriminated against; and this particularly bouncer has apparently bounced (lol pun) around Wellington bars for years gathering a solid reputation for douchebaggery, and I don't really see why we're getting all meta about the nature of knowledge and can we ever really know the truth.

2. Rebekah and Jennie must have had a bitch of a weekend. They shouldn't be pilloried for wanting to get out of this situation and have their privacy back.

3. [public] is a crappy club anyway. Last time I went there a girl puked on my hand in the bathroom and a bunch of malaysian businessmen followed my friend and I around the bar standing directly behind us, never speaking to us or looking us in the eyes, and doing their best to breathe all over our boobs. I'll be boycotting it anyway, homophobic bouncers or not.

At the end of the day, no one but Rebekah, Jennie and the bouncer know what went down, so until we develop a Harry Potter style veritaserum there isn't a lot we can do about it. So let's just all be nice to harassed minorities, not write nasty anonymous comments online, and avoid gross Courtney Place bars; and we'll be good to go.