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Oct 20, 2010
The Janesville Alcohol License Advisory Committee voted 3-1 against issuing a liquor license for a proposed gay bar at the former site of Off the Wagon, 18-24 S. River St. Since that bar closed in July, the city has been without a welcoming place for LGBT people to gather, according to locals.
A group of partners that included Mary McIntyre, who operated Off the Wagon for several months, had applied for a license to open Club Haven. The ALAC responded with the unusual request of asking McIntyre to provide evidence of financial security for the proposed business, which she declined to do.
Christian Schmidt, a former Off the Wagon employee, said he believed the ALAC was acting out of homophobia in asking McIntyre to submit information that’s not required of other license applicants.
In the ALAC report recommending against McIntyre, the committee asserted that the building’s owner Kurt Miller had gone rough eight tenants in five years. “When the businesses dissolve, the police department routinely takes complaints of civil disputes between Kurt Miller and whoever the licensed agent at the time is,” the report said. “While the request for financial information was somewhat out of the ordinary, some level of assurance that there was a likelihood that the business would survive seems reasonable.”
“I understand this building has had issues, but they’re not me,” McIntyre told the ALAC, according to the Janesville Gazette. “They’re not Mary McIntyre.”
“I’m done with the game,” she said.
Schmidt indicated that efforts to bring an LGBT bar to the city would continue.
From staff and wire reports
