Local Bars Not Allowing Motorcycle Colors: The Aftermath of Waco
Author: Pedro July 20, 2015
-—What’s Happening Now
After the meeting, things seemed to have been cleared up. The bar owners have the right to allow whomever they want in their bar and still reserve the right to refuse service. The catch to this, is that they cannot refuse service to someone because of motorcycle colors, because it is considered freedom of speech. This kind of discrimination would infringe on the individuals 1st amendment right and therefore would be opening up themselves to potential litigation. Even with this in mind, several bars in Wichita Falls have went ahead and decided not to allow colors in their establishments. They reiterate that you can take off your colors and come in, but since most of the bikes have club colors, wording, or otherwise marked to who they are affiliated with, whets the difference.
Then TABC did it again. This time via a letter to bar owners. This letter, which we have in our possession, states, “we are asking our permit holders to voluntarily limit the display of motorcycle club patches and colors. “ They continue by saying that this is a suggestion and not a mandate. Anytime the government suggests something, they tend to have consequences to it. With that being said, many bars in Wichita have taken this “suggestion” as rule of law and jumped on the bandwagon pretty quickly to exclude motorcycle club colors in their bar. The letter continued by stating that this is a “short-term measure”.
The thing about short term is that its ambiguous. No one knows what that really means. The point of all this is that typically, if colors are not allowed in bars, the clubs will not go there. Removing colors doesn’t change who the person is, which means that by removing the colors, you’re being something that you’re not in order to spend money somewhere. If they don’t want you there, don’t give them money, its plain and simple. The history of motorcycle clubs has had its dark time and bright times. A quick knee jerk reaction by TABC is what the public is seeing. Several bars in town have stated that they had a bad experience one time many years ago and that’s why they don’t allow colors in their bars. Other bars that have specifically been marketing to the biker community have also jumped on the bandwagon of banning colors.
The moral of the story is that there are still bars in town that will allow colors and accept your business with open arms. The key is finding these places and appreciating their hospitality by giving them your business. I’d love to name those bars in this article but who knows what TABC or other organizations will do with the information. Ask around, you can figure it out easily enough. All and all, there are still places that want our business. Eventually these “suggestions” from TABC will pass, and some of these bars may change their stance and therefore allow colors again. The problem is, just like the bar owners have long memories about things that happen, so does the motorcycle community. What will happen to these businesses that are discriminating against us? Only time will tell.
Thanks for the explanation.