WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — The Abbey, the iconic West Hollywood gay bar twice-named the “Best Gay Bar in the World,” has banned bachelorette parties until same-sex marriage becomes legal.
David Cooley, founder and president of The Abbey, said he is constantly flooded with requests for bachelorette parties, and often plays host to female fans because of the bar’s male go go dancers.
But prompted by the ongoing legal fight over California’s Proposition 8 and the recent constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in North Carolina, Cooley said the ban on bachelorette parties is a sign of solidarity with the gay community.
“Every Friday and Saturday night, we’re flooded with requests from straight girls in penis hats who want to ogle our gogos, dance with the gays and celebrate their pending nuptials. They are completely unaware that the people around them are legally prohibited from getting married,” Cooley said, in a statement.
“I just felt after seeing so many bachelorette parties … having our wonderful straight girlfriends having a special time, a special night, having fun that it’s almost a slap in the face to my clientele,” Cooley told KCBS-TV.
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Cooley added that, as a gay person himself, it is also a “slap in my face that I couldn’t have that same experience.”
The Abbey spokesman Brian Rosman said the ban on bachelorette parties will stand “until the act of marriage is rightfully available to people of all sexual orientations.”
Cooley said he is encouraging other gay-owned and operated establishments to institute their own bans.
