DC’s most hated bar closes after a month and a half. Here’s what happened.

Politics can be bruising. And grudges can run deep. While folks make grand pronouncements about wanting bipartisanship in today’s environment, that’s become almost impossible.

So when Political Pattie’s took over the space formerly occupied by The Dirty Goose, an iconic gay bar popular with both locals and political staffers, the decision to paint over the former bar’s rainbow decor and replace it with a red elephant and blue donkey wasn’t the smartest – especially since the Republican symbol replaced a rainbow flag.

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New DC bar paints Republican elephant over rainbow flag after replacing iconic gay bar
A new political-themed DC bar has lit up the internet after replacing an iconic gay bar that closed last month.

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When a transgender person challenged the owners on Republicans’ vicious legislative agenda targeting the LGBTQ+ community, their slightly tone-deaf reply only served as kindling for the fire. Even further attempts at mollification weren’t enough to satisfy the outraged.

“We realized that the representation of the red elephant was hurtful to the community,” they said in a later statement. “When you know better, you do better.”

When the owners repainted the exterior to remove the donkey and elephant, social media did what it does best; both liberals and conservatives announced they would boycott.

“I can’t even describe to you the types of offensive messages and comments that we received for what we deem a very pure intention of trying to bring people together in bipartisan conversation,” Sydney Bradford, a Democrat who left her job to open the bar in September told Politico. “Our takeaway is that, frankly, people are not ready for that, at least not here and now in D.C.”

After only a month and a half, the establishment has closed its doors for good.

“We couldn’t even give away free beer,” Bradford said, pointing out that the owners, both African-Americans, went to the annual drag queen High Heel Race over Halloween to hand out drink tickets but got no takers.

“There was a silent boycott,” Bradford’s Republican partner Drew Benbow, who also quit his job to dedicate himself to the new business, said. “Next to us, you would have these lines down the street. I would stand outside with our security night after night and hear these comments about how we were ‘a Republican bar’ and they wouldn’t even want to come in to pregame before going to the party next door, or use the restroom.”

To Republicans, the new paint job had signaled that the bar had “caved to the woke” and was secretly a Democrat bar.

“The country should be concerned by what happened to Pattie’s,” Benbow added. “If you are so offended by the mere sight of a symbol that represents the other party, that it drives you to anger and vitriol, then that should be concerning.”

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