Polachek refused to specify what Vela and Maison's alleged offenses were, but he claims Vela's handicap had nothing to do with it. We have a policy that patrons can be barred for different periods of time, depending on the offense." "Intoxication, fighting, arguing, causing a general disturbance-any of these can be reasons someone is asked to leave one of our establishments. "I don't want to get into specifics, but on each occasion they were asked to leave, it was because they exhibited inappropriate behavior," he says. Jack Polachek, president of Caven Enterprises, denies Vela and Maison were discriminated against.
Maison, who practiced law before taking over ASD, says Vela's case is particularly ironic, considering gays fought so hard to make sure the Americans with Disabilities Act covered HIV discrimination. Maison is a plaintiff in the suit because he claims he was thrown out of-and then indefinitely barred from-one of Caven's clubs after coming to Vela's defense. On May 20, Vela and Don Maison, president of ASD, filed a lawsuit in federal court, accusing Caven Enterprises, owner of several gay nightclubs, of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act for barring Vela on numerous occasions from JR's Bar & Grill, the Village Station, and the Throckmorton Mining Company. So it came as a rude shock to Vela and his friends that the biggest obstacle Vela must overcome to have fun is not his handicap, but the gay clubs themselves. "All he wants to do is go out and have fun. "It amazes me how well he does," says David White, a resident and employee of AIDS Services of Dallas (ASD), where Vela has lived since October, in a newly opened unit for homeless people with AIDS. A few nights a week, he rode the bus to Oak Lawn, to partake of the gay nightclub scene. He hopped a DART bus two mornings a week, traveling from North Oak Cliff to Plano, where he worked cleaning a hotel. He communicates with jerky hand movements, or shakes of the head, or by grunting yes and no.Įarlier this year, when Vela came to live in a Dallas home for people with AIDS, supervisors worried about how restricted and vulnerable his handicap would make him.īut in short order, the 28-year-old Vela proved just how capable he was. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.Born with severe cerebral palsy, Evaristo "Pee Wee" Vela walks with a halting gait.
Click here for more about what we're doing. This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Long St., is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the gay bar, which offers pizza and more, four stars out of 45 reviews. Slammers Photo: andy g./ Yelpĭowntown's Slammers, at 202 E. With four stars out of 22 reviews on Yelp, the gay bar has proven to be a local favorite. Next up is Merion Village's Cavan Irish Pub, at 1409 S. in the brewery District (including Whittier Peninsula), it's the highest-rated gay bar in Columbus, boasting four stars out of 17 reviews on Yelp. Tremont Lounge Photo: tremont lounge/ Yelp Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top gay bars in Columbus, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of the best places to hit the town for celebration and community. But there's more to Pride than a single parade: many gay bars and other gathering places have special events all month long. Most Pride parades in the United States take place in the month of June to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Riots.