A melancholy missive by WAVE winner Billy Manes (Favorite Local LGBT Writer) in the Orlando Weekly turned into a public relations challenge for the Parliament House last week. Bartender Brian Humphries tried to put a positive spin on Christmas Day at Orlando’s gay Mecca. He’s volunteered to work that bittersweet bar day for years. But in this day of viral social media, a few quotes got him—and his employer—in trouble.
“I start [my shift] when the losers whose families rejected them start to leave and the ones who are sick of their families come in,” Humphries shared with Manes before backpedaling. “I don’t mean the term ‘losers’ [to say] that they’re losers. I mean their families see them as losers.”
Humphries went on to describe the sad annual saga of a Christmas Day regular. It was enough to unleash a torrent of invective at OrlandoWeekly.com, describing Humphries and the Parliament House as “unwelcoming” and “judgmental.”
From there the brouhaha shifted to Facebook, where Parliament immediately responded that Christmas Day patrons are welcome and not judged. And Humphries shared that he had been suspended. “Just want to keep you posted…. They say due to the Orlando Weekly article my suspension has been extended, but I have not quit my job and have no intention of doing so.” There was no explanation of the initial suspension.
But Manes also came in for some criticism. “I can attest that Billy himself is one of those ‘losers’ who spends his time at Club Orlando in a dark corner during the holidays,” read one OrlandoWeekly.com comment. Meow.
"Loser" Lips Sink Ships
