Two Men Hurled Homophobic Slurs At Visitors, Attacked Employees At Texas Gay Bar

Two men shouted homophobic slurs at the visitors in a gay bar in Texas and physically assaulted the employees before running away Sunday. Dallas Police said they were looking for the suspects.

Officers responded to a “major disturbance” call at Liquid Zoo Bar & Grill in 2506 Knight Street past midnight on Sunday. Witnesses said two people engaged in a verbal altercation with some visitors and also hurled homophobic abuse at them. The pair reportedly punched the bartenders when they tried to escort them out following an argument, police said in a statement.

Crimes Against Persons Divisions will probe into the incident as a hate crime, per the statement. Police didn’t release any descriptions of the duo.

The bar shared images of one of the key suspects kissing a man. “You'll notice in one of the pics the one of the key individuals that was throwing around homophobic slurs is clearly kissing another guy...” the bar said in a Facebook post.

The bar authorities apologized to the victims on Sunday, saying they don’t condone discrimination of any sort. “We want to apologize to our Zoo Peeps that were subjected to the group that came in and was causing problems.”

“It was kind of nightmarish because you never know what’s going to happen in that situation,” Ronnie Mikyles, who was working in the bar, told KTVT. “My face had gotten split open, and the back of my head was swollen on the right side of my face.”

Gary Welborn, the bar’s owner, said it was the first time they experienced such an incident. “You would think being 2020 we wouldn’t have that issue, but unfortunately, it’s bred into a lot of people.”

He praised the bartenders for handling the incident adeptly and assured to take whatever steps possible to prevent a similar incident in future, according to The Dallas Morning News.