Major **** hit the fan on Saturday. It has been learned through multiple sources that CDs were no longer welcome at this establishment. Apparently they did not want to be mistaken for a “trannie bar” as it was oh-so-tastefully put.
For the longest time, East Of Eighth has served as a meeting place for many CDs in the NY area to have a quick dinner & a drink before heading out to another destination, but for the most part was a regular restaurant/bar open to the mainstream public.
I can understand that they want the business of tourists passing through, but hey: diversity and alternative lifestyles are a major part of what NY is all about. This isn't some small town in the Bible Belt we're talking about.
What really gets my goat is 1) 3 years earlier The Girls Club and I used to run parties at this very establishment, bringing them plenty of business as a result. Perhaps I am partially to blame because I promoted that place to death. I brought them SO MUCH business, and not from CD only, but just as much MAINSTREAM business.
2) The whole concept of “my kind not being welcome” is nothing new to me. I have been through this in the past for more obvious reasons (that's no tan, ladies) for reasons apart from CDing. I remember not being allowed over certain friends’ houses as a child simply because of my skin color. The worst was about 12 years ago when I was asked to leave a bar - here in NY of all places!
It just REALLY turns my stomach. NOBODY deserves to be treated this way, especially in the year 2004.
The sad part is that businesses have every right to conduct themselves as they please (provided they don’t break any laws) and as a result, they have the ability to forego any moral obligations. They can treat you like dirt for no reason at all, simply because of who you are. Businesses have NO social regulations to follow anymore. Let’s face facts – the consumer is pretty much left out in the cold and forced to go to an establishment at her/his own risk.
I would have been fully happy in supporting them on a much more low key level such as going on a not-so-busy night for dinner & drinks - until one of those bartenders had to run his fat mouth.
Right off it is NOT my intent to tell people where to go. And I am NOT telling ANYONE to stay away completely. If you're looking for an inexpensive place to eat & have a drink it just might be better to go down there en drab. And I guess I am still reeling over this whole situation and I'm still in shock so not everything I type right now will make perfect sense. More details to come later.
But what I CAN clearly state right now is that (speaking personally) I can and will NO LONGER endorse this establishment after this.
I've faced enough of this crap during my childhood for being black. Now I have to put up with it for being CD? I couldn't run away from being black, so why should I hide the fact that I am a CD today? Well GUESS WHAT: There's NO WAY I'm going to compromise who I am! Never again. I could NEVER respect myself if I did.
That is all for now.
trying to make policy for the "establishment"? (I use that term in the most general sense!). It is not right for a place to discriminate in any way so long as a patron is not breaking any laws, and the last time I heard, CDing is not unlawful unless prostitution is involved. Yeah, I know, lots of things aren't right, but are done anyway. That sucks dead goats too! 
