Sun 20 Mar 2011 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
An Alice Springs barman has apologised to Armistead Maupin and his husband Christopher Turner after refusing them access to the toilet. Turner had asked for the men’s room while having lunch at Mr Bojangles, only to be told it was reserved for “real men” and that he should use the public toilets across the street. Turner and Maupin, visiting Australia for a writers’ festival, left the establishment but reported the insult to the local tourist centre. “Impressively”, Maupin said, “we received an email apology from the bartender that afternoon.” Australian activist Gary Burns said that thanks to the “boofhead” barman, Alice Springs’ population was “now flyblown with the pernicious tag of... bigots and homo haters”. But Maupin said the town had responded “like a champ” and neither Alice nor Australia needed to apologise: “I’ve never felt more welcomed by a country. This was a lone gunman, and we just handed him his balls on a platter. It’s over.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Sunday, 20th March 2011 - 3:41pm