A June 16 incident at the Lakeview bar The Closet resulted in the bar banning a patron who called out racial slurs to other patrons. However, those who were yelled at still were concerned about the way the incident was initially handled.
Sara Kerastas, an active LGBT advocate, posted a Facebook note alleging that The Closet failed to fairly deal with a man who yelled racial slurs at Kerastas' friends.
According to Kerastas, who spoke as an ally to her friends, she went to The Closet after midnight with a group of six friends June 16 (the morning of June 17). Three friends reported encountering a man who shouted racial slurs at them. Kerastas said that when one friend responded to the man, he threw a drink at that friend.
Kerastas said they asked the bouncer and bartender to have the man removed.
"The people who had been harassed had been super-shamed," Kerastas said.
Kerastas claimed that the bar protected the man by pulling him into a corner to talk. When they finally kicked him out, Kerastas and friends were also forced to leave. Kerastas called the decision unfair, and wrote in her Facebook note that the bar "tolerates racism and blatant bigotry."
"The racist man throws some nasty hurtful language at my friends, unprovoked. He throws a drink when one of us responds. Then, WE are asked to leave…" Kerastas' note reads, adding that the bar inappropriately assumed that Kerastas and friends might act out violently.
The note prompted community outcry, and Kerastas' friends reposted it, adding their own critiques of the bar's handling of other incidents.
However, Karyn Holden, the bartender who made the call, said she had no choice but to remove both parties. The man who shouted racial epithets also claimed that Kerastas and friends called him a "faggot," and Holden did not personally witness either alleged incident.
"When there's a situation, everybody has to leave," Holden said. "It's the only fair thing to do."
Still, Holden said, the man in question had been a problem before, and that night he was banned from ever returning to the bar.
"I'm not exactly sure what happened," Holden said. "But in my heart of hearts, I believe [Kerastas'] group."
Selma Hudson experienced the incident first-hand with Kerastas and friends. According to Hudson, the man directed racist remarks at her. She said The Closet didn't respond quickly enough to protect her group, and that the man was allowed to stay for more than 15 minutes before he was removed.
"For me, I was upset he had been saying things before it happened to me," Hudson said. "It had to escalate to this breaking point before anything happened."
Kerastas said she won't be going back to The Closet, but she is not looking to ruin the bar's reputation either. If anything, she said, it is an opportunity to talk about racist incidents that happen all over Boystown.
Hudson agreed. She said that had she known the man had been banned for good when the incident happened, she might have left feeling differently.
Judi Petrouski, owner of The Closet, said the bar draws a diverse clientele and has a zero-tolerance policy on racism. She stood by Holden's call and said the man in question would not be allowed back.
"You just can't have people in your business like that," she said. "It's insane."