The Aquarium, Brighton

This pub claims to be a gay friendly bar!!The publicans are Michael and Ben whom you will see pictured together on their site, They used to employ a bar man called Kieran Mc Dermott, who they were very happy with until Kieran began to date a friend of mine called Mark. On the evening of18th November Mark had an intimate conversation with the other publican Ben in the Aquarium, when he admitted to Ben that he had been HIV+ since 1992. On 19th December Mark went to visit Kieran in the Aquarium in the evening as Kieran was working and the publican Michael was suddenly very hostile towards him. He accused Mark of putting Kieran's life in danger. Mark defended himself by telling Michael that there was no way that he would put Kieran's life in danger and requested Michael to stop accusing him of this. Michael would not let it go and then sang the song, "What's It All About Alfie?" as this is supposed to be a "happy� karaoke bar. Michael however changed Alfie to "Whats it all about Mark Buchanan?' serenading Mark as he sang it for the whole bar to hear. He also changed the lyrics of the song exposing Mark for being HIV positive and putting Kieran�s life in danger amongst other accusations that simply were not true. Mark left the bar immediately and Kieran was sacked on the spot. So, gay friendly it may claim to be, but shame on any gay man or any gay bar that persecutes another gay man for being HIV positive.

14 Mar 2011 23:14