Wyoming bar sold T-shirts about shooting LGBT people
A Wyoming motorcycle bar has reportedly decided to stop the sale of a shirt it carried that bragged about shooting members of the LGBT community and used a homophobic slur, according to the Cowboy State Daily.
A photo of the shirt sold at The Eagle’s Nest, located in Cheyenne, Wyo., went viral on social media over the weekend. The shirt featured an image of a man pointing a gun along with the words, “In Wyoming, we have a cure for AIDS, we shoot f—in f——.”
After seeing the posts on social media, a Wyoming LGBT group, Wyoming Equality, requested that The Eagle’s Nest pull the merchandise from their shelves, but the staff reportedly refused.
On Monday, the bar’s owner, Ray Bereziuk, told The Cheyenne Post that he would not be restocking the sold-out T-shirts, saying he is “in the bar business, not the apparel business.”
The Washington Post reported that the bar owner told Sara Burlingame, executive of Wyoming Equality, that he’d been selling the shirts since the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay, 21-year-old who was violently beaten to death in Wyoming in 1998.
One of the shirts depicts a bearded man dressed in biker’s garb, pointing a revolver at the viewer.
“In Wyoming we have a cure for AIDS,” the shirt reads. “We shoot f—in’ f——.”https://t.co/sQKbR3Ya4L
— KABB FOX 29 (@KABBFOX29) July 13, 2021
Shepard’s death sparked movement by the state and federal government to pass hate crime laws, according to the Post.
Wyoming state Rep. Landon Brown (R) condemned the sale of the shirts after the public outrage, saying it could hurt Wyoming’s image and economy.
“This shirt is despicable and does not represent Wyoming in any way shape or form,” Brown told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday. “In a time where we need to grow our economy and welcome new industries to our state, this type of action causes consequences, not only for the bar, but our state as a whole.”
Brown added, “I’m disappointed and frankly I’m hurt that anyone in Wyoming feels this way against EITHER of the communities named in the shirt. I stand in solidarity with those affected and condemn the sale of such an egregious and irresponsible item.”
The Eagle’s Nest could not be reached for comment by The Hill.
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