A Cheyenne tavern has created T-shirts to sell in response to another bar’s past sale of a T-shirt some found offensive because of its depiction of gun violence and use of a derogatory term to describe homosexuals.
The Midtown Tavern will soon be selling “Pride” T-shirts which depict a rainbow-colored bison with the tavern’s logo and “Wyoming Pride” and “Wyoming Proud” written on one sleeve, according to a posting on the bar’s Facebook page.
All of the proceeds raised from the sales will be donated to pro-LGBTQ organization Wyoming Equality, the Midtown announced. It wasn’t clear when the shirts would be available for sale or how much they would cost. The tavern’s staff did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
The shirts are being made as a response to T-shirts sold by the Eagle’s Nest, a Cheyenne bar that primarily caters to motorcyclists, that was roundly criticized on social media last week when a photo of the T-shirt it sold began circulating. The T-shirt depicted a man pointing a pistol and a caption reads “In Wyoming, we have a cure for AIDS, we shoot f—–‘n f—–s.”
Wyoming Equality executive director Sara Burlingame posted her thanks to the Midtown on its Facebook page.
“Oh golly. Wow. What a thing. I can’t even tell you how surprised and grateful I am. Thank you,” she wrote on the tavern’s post about the shirts.
Wyoming Equality also shared the social media post on its Facebook page and thanked the tavern.
“Thank you to our new friends at Midtown tavern for stepping up — we’re so honored and grateful by how some folks are responding. You know where we’ll be this rodeo. #midtownpride,” the organization wrote.
The Eagle’s Nest’s owner told The Cheyenne Post last week that the shirts had sold out and he had no intention of getting any more.
Ray Bereziuk said that he is “in the bar business, not the apparel business,” and that he would not be reordering the shirts.
It marked an abrupt change as Wyoming Equality previously asked the bar to stop selling the shirts, but the staff refused.
It wasn’t clear how long the bar had been selling the shirts.
