An LGBTQ club in Sacramento, California, is prohibiting all the “Maga -related outfits” after a pattern wore a “Make America Great Again” hat for the popular place.
The phrase and its acronym, especially when they are stamped on the red baseball limits, have been popular among the supporters of Donald Trump since the president’s first mandate.
The owner of Badlands, TJ Bruce, announced the new policy on the club’s Instagram page this week, saying that the hat “led to discomfort among some clients.”
“Initially we decided to ban the entire political outfit to avoid more problems. However, after careful consideration, we have realized that a general prohibition is not the right approach,” said the announced. “In the future, an outfit related to Maga will not be allowed.
The client who put on the Maga hat, Steven Bouraa, said it was the first time he used the hat in a gay bar.
“I said: ‘What the hell? Let’s see what happens,” he told NBC Kcra-TV’s local affiliate in an interview in the camera.
Bouraa added that he had a “pleasant moment” in Badlands and did not encounter problems, so he thought the night went well and was surprised to hear the new policy.
The reactions to the new club policy were mixed.
The Sacramento chapter of Log Cabin Republicons, a gay conservative group, described the policy “a disappointing movement that prioritizes the division over the fundamental American principle of freedom of expression.”
“While private companies have the right to enforce their own policies, choose to exclude people based on political expression contradicts the very inclusion and open dialogue values for which the LGBTQ+ community has fought for a long time,” the group wrote in an Instagram publication. “True equality is not about silencing opposite opinions, but about creating spaces where different perspectives can coexist.”
Alice Malmberg, who lives near Badlands, which is in the “Gayborhood” of Lavender Heights of the city, said he found the decision to ban Maga’s attire in the understandable club.
“Given the current political climate and what has been happening and how the administration has behaved towards certain groups, especially the LGBTQ community, I can understand why they made that decision,” he told Kcra.
As for Bouraa, he told Kcra that he will continue visiting Badlands but that he will keep his Maga team at home.
