Long Island Bar Posts Transphobic Photo on Instagram

PATCHOGUE, NY – A group of activists plan to protest a Patchogue bar after it posted a transphobic photo on social media this week.

The Cliffton in Patchogue posted a photo on its Instagram account of two patrons with written text on the photo that reads "Just Two Dudes... Chillin' At The Clifton," and emojis of two men holding hands, two men with a heart over their heads and two men dancing.

The photo is captioned "Should we tell him, or let him find out himself?" The photo has since been taken down.

This photo has angered many Long Islanders, causing a group of activists to schedule a protest on Friday from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Cliffton. The protest's Facebook event page already has 97 attending with 334 interested.

"Apparently The Cliffton in Patchogue thinks it's funny to post pictures of people without their consent in the form of a transphobic meme," the event page reads. "They posted the meme on their instagram page and then took it down, but the screenshots still remain! Join me this Friday at 7pm as we stand outside this self proclaimed "dive bar" that also ironically claims to welcome people of all walks of life and let them know that we won't be putting up with transphobic bullshit anymore! Yes, we can post on their social media or our social media about it, but there's nothing like going out and actually DOING SOMETHING."

Attempts to reach the Cliffton were unavailing.

Brian Neal, the owner of the Cliffton, told Greater Patchogue last year that he had a vision to "build a place for all walks of life to gather, judgement free." I

The owner of Hoptron Brewtique, just down the street from the Cliffton, noted in a Facebook post Tuesday afternoon that in 2017, there were over 7,000 hate crimes reported and there were at least 29 transgender people killed that year.