No Shirt, No Service - Bartenders in Ogunquit Must Cover Up!

Studio 54 Bartenders at work

Just when we were thinking about going to Maine for the weekend, I read this article in The Advocate
about city officials in Ogunquit ordering bartenders in the Gay Destination hot spot to cover up - no bare chests allowed!

"It's a health hazard!"

OK, given the propensity for men in said profession to shave every follicle of hair off of their bodies, I hardly see what could possible fall into a drink other than a dislodged nipple ring.

If you needed anymore evidence that Montreal and Maine were further apart than their kilometers would suggest, you have only to enter a Montreal Gay bar and check out the bartenders here.  (I've done personal research on this - I know!).

No, if someone wanted to site a health hazard risk here in Montreal, it would be due to the bartender's choice of stir sticks! (There's a reason I prefer my cocktails shaken, not stirred.)

As the owner of Mainstreet states in the article, this is about image, not health.  Evidently a lot has to do with the fact that because Mainstreet has a deck, liquor and half naked bartenders can be seen by unsuspecting children from the sidewalk.

"...before Ogunquit became its own town 30 years ago, alcohol had been banned altogether.

I just think this is pushing the envelope when they're ordering it outside and serving it outside," he said. "What's next?" - indeed.

"I was appalled that the town manager allowed this to happen," town resident Harriet Yaffe told the Seacoast Online. "It was brought to his attention a while ago and he didn't do anything about it. ... I love Ogunquit and I love the gay men...I just don't want a tacky town. It's going to become another P-town."

Not another P-Town? How many pink dollars do they think swish their way down Route 1 each year?

I love Ogunquit too, Ms Yaffe.  But allowing bartenders to serve shirtless isn't going to make the town tacky nor will it make Ogunquit another Sodom by the sea as you obviously think P-Town is.  What it will do is absolutely nothing because we don't go to Ogunquit for half naked bartenders, there's a beach a few meters away and you get all the eye candy for free.

So hide the beef behind the curtain if you must, we'll love you all the same.