Montana bar close to where Matthew Shephard was brutally beaten sold shirts supporting anti-gay violence
A bar located in Cheyenne, Wyo., is at the center of controversy for selling homophobic paraphernalia advocating for anti-gay violence and violence against individuals diagnosed with AIDS.
According to Insider, local news outlets are shedding light on the bar as advocacy groups are sounding off about the controversial items being sold at the location.
Over the weekend, Wyoming Equality, an LGBTQ advocacy group, took to Facebook to raise concerns about the type of paraphernalia on advertisements at the bar. One of the shirts reads, "In Wyoming, we have a cure for AIDS," it reads. "We shoot f---in' f------."
With the photo of the offensive shirt, the group wrote, "We are sad to say that we failed to convince a local bar to pull these shirts from circulation."
While the group did not disclose the name of the bar where the items were being sold, Ray Bereziuk, the owner of The Eagles Nest in Cheyenne, Wyo., confirmed to The Cheyenne Post on Monday that the controversial shirts "were 'sold out' and no longer available."
The bar has faced heightened backlash scrutiny since Bereziuk made the remarks. Even Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon (R) has sounded off about the controversy saying that it was "incredibly disheartening to learn that any business would offer a product for sale with a message like this."
"This hurtful rhetoric is not reflective of our state's values and does nothing but promote hate and division," Gordon said.
The bar is located less than an hour away from Laramie, Wyo., where Matthew Shephard was brutally beaten in 1998. Shephard, who a gay college student, ultimately succumbed to the injuries he suffered during the homophobic attack.
