Long Island Bar Apologizes For Transphobic Instagram Post

A Long Island bar apologized on Wednesday for posting a transphobic photo on Instagram that sparked outrage and caused activists to plan a protest.

The Cliffton in Patchogue on Instagram said "Over the past 2 days a number of people have expressed concern over an Instagram post on our Instagram page. After careful consideration of all those involved, we would like to extend our deepest and most sincere apologies to those we may have unintentionally offended, specifically Tiffany."

The bar 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.

The Cliffton continued, "We acknowledge that our judgement is not always the best on social media, but we are also confident the public will learn that The Cliffton has never, nor will ever, be transphobic, homophobic, or Anti LBGT. In fact for over a year now we have been quite the opposite, and proudly known for being the Google #1 ranked LBGT friendly bar on the Patchogue mainland. So all we can do now is invite you to come down and get to know us again. Maybe you want to ask questions or just yell at us. Either way, we will do our best to correct the mistakes we have made and work with the community to move past these turbulent times"

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 has 145 people confirmed and 426 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."