Back around the turn of the century on a cold December night, sleeting and mixed with freezing rain. There were a couple of locals sitting at the bar when the five of us walked to shake the cold off of us. Three trans, two cis.
The bartender and waitress were talking to the locals seated at the bar and we seated ourselves at a booth, four of us sitting in the booth and one grabbed a chair to sit at the end of the table. We sat there for a while and signaled to the waitress which she ignore and continued to talking with the regulars.
She finally came over to us and told us that she couldn’t serve us unless we all sat in the booth, that we were blocking the aisle and walked away. We looked around at the empty bar and we all squeezed into the booth.
We sat there for awhile more and they still ignored us so we decided that they didn’t want our business.
So we gathered up our coats and stuff and went down to the A-House where we got served by a friendly waitress.
Did I mention that this was Provincetown and that one of our party was the First Selectman of Provincetown?
~~~~~~~~
I posted this by mistake yesterday. I usually write serval days in advance and I forgot to change the date for the post (I have pre-written all my posts until Sunday).
Reminds me of the transphobic pharmacy on Commercial Street in Provincetown.
ReplyDelete? Did the First Selectman of Provincetown say anything?
ReplyDeleteYes, he talked to the owner the next day. I don't know the outcome because I didn't know him, the other person with us knew him. So he was a mutual friend of a mutual friend.
DeleteOne only has to look back to Ourstories to find that some of the worse discrimination in the LGBT tribe has come from Gays and Lesbians. Worse yet some of them have been so called leaders. I have always found in interesting that then years later they have seen the light and now have atoned for their sins against the people. The archives never lie. One of the so-called leaders here in Ct., even held a position in the CCLG Civil Rights said at the time when questioned about including the Trans community in the Ct. Civil Rights Bill, if we included them, we would have never gotten our rights. Quoted right in the Metroline. Big as life, named and included. Then she saw the light. Great but how many had to suffer because of her position at the time? It was a long way from 1991 to when the gender identity and expression bill was passed. Another leader in explaining herself said, "We didn't know what to call the transgender people back then. HELLO. She didn't even know who Sylvia Rivera was at the time. This is why learning ourstories is so important. Wonder why they never asked? Wonder why they never looked it up? Why is it, because it goes back to what the butch dyke said. It goes back to the straight measuring scale and yard stick. It goes back to pleasing mommy and daddy and the likes of them. It is a very un-revolutionary position to take. But most of all it goes back to How Many Transgender People did you harm over the years by your position? How many people is this group in P-town still harming and why haven't they been run out of business? I guess no one there ever heard of boycott, picket sign and line. This is not the time to be messing around.
ReplyDelete