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Gay Bar's Name Stirs Controversy, Resignations

What's in a name?

What's in a name? If you're a gay bar in Vermont, quite a bit, actually. Oak45, a wine bar in Winooski is reopening next week as a gay bar. But it's the name that's catching flack: Mister Sister.

Bar owner Craig McGaughan says he sees the name as inclusive, but others claim its transphobic.

In fact, two board members at the Pride Center of Vermont resigned following criticism the center waited too long to address the issue.

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Gay and lesbian couples drinking in a bar in Birmingham. Lesbian couple with arms around each other having drinks. Young, stylish women.

"I could no longer be part of an organization that wouldn't take a stance against hate speech directed at the community members it was claiming to support, so I was forced to resign," wrote Bailey Cummings, one of the members who stepped down. "I'm really sad to have had to do this — I loved being a board member at the Pride Center."

Pride Center board Co-chair Paul Sisson said the organization needed more information before taking a position, adding that the resignations were "not a very constructive way to affect change."

"We're sad to see an issue like this dividing the community," he told the Burlington Free Press.

McGaughan wrote on Facebook that "a small part of our community has chosen to attack me for this in a way that has felt extremely divisive in a time when it has never been more important to support the LGBTQ community." He added, "These sorts of attacks do not lend themselves to productive dialogue."

Members of the community, though, are just happy there's going to be a gay bar in town, the first in the Burlington area in over a decade.

"It's great to have a dedicated gay bar again," Oak45 patron Deanna Merola told the Press. "It's a typical turn of phrase that's been around ever since the movement began." Those complaining, she added, are "focusing on the wrong thing."

It's worth noting "Mister Sister" is also the name of a song by the B52's Kate Pierson, an erotic boutique in Providence, and several different rock bands.

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