It has been nearly a month since a meet-and-greet for Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli at a Camden County restaurant and bar. It sparked outrage from an LGBTQ social group that regularly met at the venue. There appears to be no reconciliation in sight as the group has taken its business elsewhere.
Reunion Hall in Haddon Township allowed Ciattarelli — who holds anti-LGBTQ views and whose executive director for Muslim relations recently called for an end to same-sex marriage — to use the venue for the event Oct. 1. The decision drew protestors and calls for boycotts, and the LGBTQ social group, which held its Third Thursday gatherings there, severed ties with the business.
“Inviting political candidates running for state or national office crosses the line from neutrality; you’re choosing to platform that candidate,” Karl Hunter, one of the organizers of Third Thursday, said in a statement.
Hunter added that Reunion Hall not issuing a formal statement “denouncing the anti-Trans rhetoric,” especially the kind that targets the business’s own customers, is “abhorrent.”
“Not everyone in our community has the privilege of being ‘neutral.’ To stay silent in the face of hate is to abandon the most vulnerable in our community,” he said.
Reunion Hall’s owner, Dave Welsh, said that he had no intention of offending the group or the LGBTQ community in general and that he is “a hundred percent” supportive of the community. He added that he allowed a Democratic event to be held at his place the week before.
“I had no idea what it was going to turn into,” said Welsh, a registered Independent. He said he votes mostly for Democrats but has voted for a Republican candidate a while back.
“People calling me out that I’m not taking a side is the one part that I have an issue with. I’m allowed to be an Independent. I don’t have to be a Republican; I don’t have to be a Democrat,” he said.
But that reasoning did not satisfy the group.
“We heard from the folks who come to Third Thursday on a regular basis, and they did not feel that it was a safe space that was appropriate for us to hold our Third Thursday gathering,” said Melissa Firstenberg, another Third Thursday organizer. “We’ve pretty much had to find somewhere that people will feel comfortable and people will show up.”
Welsh defended himself by saying Reunion Hall was not supporting the meet-and-greet and allowed Ciattarelli use of the space as was the case with the Democratic event that took place there previously. He said he felt like he was in a Catch-22.
“It’s tricky for me because if I deny him entry, then that gets published; then I’m gonna get attacked from the other side,” he said. “There was no way I was getting out of that situation without offending somebody in some way, shape or form, and that’s not what I’m here for, you know.”
But Firstenberg, who wanted to emphasize she was now offering her personal opinion and not speaking for the group unlike her previous comments, said she gets why the Third Thursday regulars she’s heard from don’t want to meet at Reunion Hall anymore.
“As a person, particularly as a trans woman, I can certainly empathize and understand where everybody is coming from when they say, ‘I am not going to show up for Third Thursday if it’s at that space because I don’t feel safe,’ and it makes sense to me as a person.”
However, Welsh said he felt he couldn’t deny Ciattarelli the space. “He’s still a human being,” Welsh said. “I didn’t realize it would cause the stir it did, and I’ll admit I was naïve — I didn’t know how strong he was in regard to him being against trans rights and gay rights.”
The backlash Welsh has faced as a result of the controversy has taken the form of calls on the social media platform Reddit to boycott Reunion Hall and his other businesses, and not to support his father, who is a musician. Welsh was also accused of deflecting from the Ciattarelli controversy by recently holding a drag show, which was actually planned months in advance, the business owner said. He also noted that every Third Thursday something was planned such as a Halloween-themed drag show for the October gathering, which was to take place at Reunion Hall on Oct. 16.
Instead, October’s Third Thursday was held at Dr. Brewlittle’s in Maple Shade Township, Burlington County. Firstenberg said there were about 70 attendees.
“People enjoyed the new space, and an impromptu sing-along broke out for about an hour”, she said. “This was in addition to the general conversation upstairs and the open mic night downstairs.” The group has decided to host its gatherings at different places in the area. The November Third Thursday (Nov. 20) is planned for Treno, an Italian restaurant and bar in the Westmont section of Haddon Township.
Hunter said the group will continue to keep Third Thursday “on the road, bringing new experiences to our guests each month as we work to create safe spaces for (the) community to come together and escape their day to day.” Welsh said he’s friends with the management of the brewery where the October event was held and sells its beer. He also noted that he is “as community-oriented of a person as you’re going to find in southern Jersey,” adding that he also works at the high school. But it looks as though the group changing its present course isn’t going to happen. “As somebody who helps put the program together for Third Thursday, we had to find a place that people will show up. It’s just that simple,” said Firstenberg, speaking for the group.
According to Welsh, however, some of the group’s members “still want to come and support us because I think they understand.” He said he thinks the group has splintered a bit and he’s OK with those who are offended going elsewhere. “If it’s going to make them feel better and make them more comfortable, I don’t have a problem with that,” he said. But don’t “talk negative on us. We didn’t do anything to intentionally try and hurt you guys to make you feel uncomfortable. Our goal is always to make everybody as comfortable as we can be.” And if there needs to be a small break, he continued, there can be and “they’re welcome to come back whenever they want to come back.” “They love our staff and they said they felt welcome as can be, but because I allowed that event, they felt like we turned on them. That wasn’t the intention of us doing that event,” he said.
“It stings a little bit. I’d love to have everybody back.”
