More than two months after offering “Wyoming Pride” shirts in response to another bar’s sale of T-shirts suggesting the shooting of homosexuals, a Cheyenne bar donated more than $1,600 to Wyoming Equality this week.
The Midtown Tavern began selling “Wyoming Pride” shirts in mid-July, following the social media controversy surrounding another Cheyenne bar, the Eagle’s Nest, selling a shirt that disparaged gay people.
The Eagle’s Nest 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.” The bar caters to motorcyclists.
The tavern donated $1,610 to Wyoming Equality on Friday, tavern staff told Cowboy State Daily.
The tavern’s shirts depicted a rainbow-colored bison with the tavern’s logo and “Wyoming Pride” and “Wyoming Proud” written on one sleeve. All of the proceeds of the shirt sales went to Wyoming Equality.
Earlier in the summer, a photo of the Eagle’s Nest t-shirt began circulating on social media, generating a mix of responses. It wasn’t clear how long the bar sold the shirts, but after media reports about the shirts were published, the bar’s owner said the shirts were no longer for sale.
Wyoming Equality initially reached out to the Eagle’s Nest to ask them to stop selling the shirts, but the request was denied, Wyoming Equality said at the time.
“We hoped that they would choose to stop selling them when they realized the harm it did to the LGBTQ community and those living with AIDS,” Wyoming Equality wrote in a social media post about the shirt. “Wyoming Equality understands that…this sucks.”
Wyoming Equality Executive Director Sara Burlingame made a similar post on her personal social media account at the time and proposed other ideas to fight back against the sale of the shirts.
“Want to make it unpopular to be a bigot?” she wrote. “Donate to Wyoming Equality or Wyoming AIDS Assistance. Put a pride flag up in your business or home. Wear one of our cool AF shirts. Pass a Hate Crime bill. Invest in queer joy and resilience. Let the haters hate in their own misery. Keep Wyoming queer and wild.”
