[lbo-talk] Maryland restaurant posts signs barring "fags" "coloreds"

[Steven L. Robinson]

Chesapeake restaurant posts sign barring 'fags,' 'coloreds'
 Maryland officials probe under public accommodation statute

By Lou Chibbaro Jr. | May 22, 4:49 PM Washington Blade Online

The Maryland Human Relations Commission is investigating a restaurant near
the Chesapeake Bay that displayed a sign earlier this month that appeared to
prohibit gays and blacks from entering its premises.

The Happy Harbor Inn, a popular dockside restaurant in the southern Maryland
town of Deale, displayed the sign next to its main entrance as saying,
"ATTENTION BIKERS: NO COLOREDS, FAGS, CLUB ATTIRE, (no) EXCEPTIONS,"
according to two people who visited the restaurant on May 3.

On May 20, nearly three weeks later, the sign had been changed. A visit to
the restaurant by a Washington Blade reporter showed that the letters "eds"
and "f" had been covered by white paint, with a faint outline of the letters
still visible.

>From a distance, the sign on May 20 read, "ATTENTION BIKERS: NO COLOR, AGS,
CLUB ATTIRE (no) EXCEPTIONS."

"It could be a violation of Article 49 of the state's human relations code,"
said J. Neil Bell, deputy director of Maryland's Human Relations Commission.

Bell said his office would make inquires to find out how long the sign had
been displayed before the changes were made.

Under Maryland law, discrimination in employment, housing and public
accommodations - such as restaurants and hotels - is prohibited based on
race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and marital status, among other
categories.

Records with the Anne Arundel County Board of Liquor Commissioners list
Barbara A. Sturgell and Karen Kay Sturgell as the owners of the Happy Harbor
Inn.

An employee at the restaurant, who did not identify herself, said Barbara
Sturgell would not return to the restaurant until May 24, and that no one
else was available to comment on the sign.

"I know nothing about that," said the employee, who was contacted by
telephone. "You'll have to ask Barbara about that."

Scott Edwards, a former D.C. resident who was visiting the city earlier this
month, said he and two friends drove to Deale for lunch and were stunned
when they noticed the sign as they walked along a deck next to a harbor,
where the restaurant is located.

"It was very clear," he said of the sign. "It said no coloreds, no fags, and
no bikers. It just seemed weird," Edwards said. "It was anachronistic."

A friend of Edwards, who asked not to be identified because he is not openly
gay in his profession, said he, too, saw the sign.

"I was astonished to see something like that in this day and age," he said.

An avid boater who has visited small towns along the Chesapeake Bay for more
than 20 years, the friend said he has never seen such a sign anywhere in
southern Maryland or the Eastern Shore.

BayDreaming.com, an online guide to the Chesapeake Bay region, describes
Deale as a small fishing town that is home to more than 40 charter fishing
boats.

"Deale is a popular destination for boaters located on Rockhold Creek in
southern Anne Arundel County, on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay,"
the guide says. "Most of Deale's charter fishing fleet is docked at the
Happy Harbor docks," it says. "Happy Harbor Inn includes a bar and
restaurant with outside deck and is a popular destination."

Larry Stansbury, treasurer of the Spartan gay motorcycle club, said club
members frequently ride along the Chesapeake Bay's back roads. He said he
has never encountered anything like the sign in Deale.

Dan Furmansky, executive director of Equality Maryland, a state gay rights
group, said he group would ask state officials to take against the
restaurant if it doesn't remove the sign.

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