INDReporter

‘Straight’ bar inspires entrepreneur

This!

Remember our stories about Barcode, the Jefferson Street drinking hole that ripped off the logo of a gay bar in Virginia and has since painted over the “gay” part of the sign? Remember how there were inquiries on social media about whether it was a gay bar, and the bar clarified: “It [sic] a straight bar that [sic] mostly hip hop”? And remember how social media slammed Barcode for even having to clarify its sexual orientation? What a mess.

It turns out there might have been some crossed wires in that snafu. It appears there were competing bars trying to use the name Barcode — one on the south side and the other Downtown, and it might have been the south side bar that made the “straight” clarification and the Downtown bar that took the heat.

Nonetheless, the Downtown bar with the ripped-off sign is back on the “for lease” market; someone painted over the rainbow bar code logo and covered the front windows in black tarp. So no matter who’s to blame for the mix-up, there will evidently not be a bar called Barcode in Downtown Lafayette — straight, gay or otherwise.

But whatever. The situation has inspired Lafayette entrepreneur Adam Chapman. An IND reader and really creative guy, Chapman is now hawking T-shirts with that fateful status update, “It a straight bar that mostly hip hop.”

To be sure, the tee is funny, but it’s also for a good cause: Chapman is donating 25 percent of proceeds to the Acadiana PRIDE Festival.

Get yours here.