Letter: Pride for Bristol’s handling of drag show drama

Posted 3/9/23

To the editor:

Last week's Bristol Town Council meeting featured a rare standing room only crowd, who were there in large numbers to hear a town resident request that the council change the …

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Letter: Pride for Bristol’s handling of drag show drama

Posted

To the editor:

Last week's Bristol Town Council meeting featured a rare standing room only crowd, who were there in large numbers to hear a town resident request that the council change the wording of town ordinances regulating adult entertainment and adult entertainment establishments. And while the petitioner denied that his proposal had anything to do with any particular event or business in town, it was common knowledge among the council and the capacity crowd in attendance that the petitioner was making his request to the council due to being offended by recent drag queen shows held at Pivotal Brewing Company on Wood Street.

As a regular patron of Pivotal Brewing, I can say from firsthand experience that Pivotal Brewing is a model business in town that draws a wide spectrum of customers from all walks of life, including college students, young families with children, and numerous senior citizens such as myself. The atmosphere is warm, inviting, and family friendly, and is the type of business that we as a town should be supporting and embracing.

And while the resident who asked for the council to change the town ordinances due to his personal dislike of drag queen shows had every right to do so, to their credit, the council refused to make any changes to the town's adult entertainment laws, and also received a verbal recommendation from the town solicitor and a strongly worded letter from the Rhode Island ACLU that the town would be embarking on a very slippery legal slope should they choose to change the current adult entertainment ordinances currently in place.

I was heartened by the huge show of support shown to Pivotal Brewing Co. at last week's council meeting, and I was also very impressed by our town council, who made it very clear to the individual who requested this change in our town ordinances that Bristol is a welcoming place to all, regardless of race, color, creed, or sexual orientation, and that they will not tolerate nor promote homophobia or transphobia in this town.

Finally, I would like to offer the individual who is trying to change the town's adult entertainment laws a friendly piece of advice: If you dislike drag queen shows so much, then just don't go, and spare yourself any further embarrassment at future town council meetings.

Mike Proto
245 Chestnut St.

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