Bar Owners Say Board Blocked Beer Sales Out Of Anti-Gay Bias

JACKSON, TENNESSEE - The owners of a new downtown bar said Friday that city officials purposely blocked their ability to serve alcohol, because they knew the bar was catering to homosexuals.
The Jackson Board of Zoning Appeals on Monday made no motion to award Medina residents Chris Sullivan and Gene Stewart an exception to the zoning for their property, at 166 Airways Blvd., that would have allowed the owners to serve alcohol.
By not making a motion for approval for the second time in two months, board members effectively killed Sullivan's request for the zoning exception. The exception was needed because the bar is within 500 feet of residential property.
Sullivan said that since the city already had issued him a business and beer license, he felt the exception was denied because of bar's customer base.
"That is about the only thing that it could be," he said. "They say it is because of the residential housing (behind the bar), but there have been places put in near residential areas before."
Board member Max Hart said the board's decision was not based on sexual orientation.
"Nobody's ever brought that up before," he said. "I took the stance that because it was so close to those residents, I would have voted against it even if there was a motion."
Stewart said he and Sullivan are undecided about suing the city to try and recoup the nearly $240,000 it cost to purchase the property and make renovations. He said the city planning department, which recommended the exception be granted, showed that neither extra traffic nor noise from the bar would affect neighbors.
"Paul George (principal planner with the Jackson Planning Department) kept telling them the noise and the traffic (from the bar) would not be a problem," Sullivan said. "That is why I think it is a gay issue."
The appeals board did grant two exceptions in 2005 to bars that were within 500 feet of residential property, according to George.
While no residents living near the bar attended Monday's appeals meeting in protest, an attorney for Dement Construction Co., which has an office next door, did.
He could not be reached Friday for comment.
Board member John Glaze also said he did not know that the bar would cater to gay patrons when he did not make a motion to approve the exception, and that it would not have mattered if he did.
"I do not see where that is applicable to what they are applying for," Glaze said.
from The Jackson Sun

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