The Abbey, the West Hollywood watering hole once called “The Best Gay Bar in the World,” is making headlines again.

See also: The Abbey, West Hollywood Gay Bar, Bans Bachelorette Parties as Political Statement

In 2012 it banned bachelorette parties because, at the time, “the people around them are legally prohibited from getting married,” said Abbey Founder David Cooley.

This time around the bar-turned-dance club is banning a group of people much more evil than those part-time LGBT supporters known as straight white girls:
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That's right, the legislators who support anti-gay bills will heretofore be officially unwelcome at The Abbey, the bar announced in a statement today.

A bill in the Arizona legislature would allow businesses in that state to discriminate against LGBT people in the name of so-called religious freedom. It's on the governor's desk.

The Abbey would put legislators who propose such action, including Arizona state senators Steve Yarbrough and Eddie Farnsworth, on notice that they won't be allowed inside. Similar legislation was being considered in Kansas, but it has died for now.

Lawmakers in Idaho, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah, South Dakota, and Oregon have also tried similar legislation, the Abbey says.

Of course, as we suggested to a publicist for the bar, these kinds of redneck idiots wouldn't be caught dead in The Abbey. But she noted that straight (and closeted, we assume) people from all over the world come there – it's kind of a big deal. True.


Bar founder Cooley had this to say:

When we banned bachelorette parties, we got calls from every red state with people saying they would never come to The Abbey. We got calls from blue states complaining about fighting discrimination with more discrimination. I've learned that I can't stop crazy, ignorant or stupid but I can stop it from coming through my doors. I live in the 'Real America' too and more importantly, I live in the real world. I want to send a message to all those people out there who conflate Christian values with discrimination: we don't want your kind here.

And so, from here on out, the beefcake at the door will have the photos of these legislators on the clipboard – on what the venue is calling its “deny entry list,” which is a fate worse than the federal government's no-fly list, if you ask us.

Even if you look like one of these idiots – and we truly hope this isn't the case, for purely aesthetic reasons – you run the risk of not getting past the velvet rope. There is no guest list tonight!

Our dream is that The Abbey could post its door staff at all the entry points to the great state of California.

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