A few weeks ago, on September 23, at a local Baton Rouge bar — Reggie’s — a gay couple was allegedly beaten by a group of employees. I’ve been to Reggie’s, and I have no doubt that this story is true.

Reggie’s usually has a line that wraps around the building. At the front, there is a bouncer who enforces a strict dress code, if you’re a black person. When I went, I was wearing a plain shirt (against the dress code), yet I was let in. My friend, DeQuantarius, on the other hand, had previously been denied because his “shoes” were the wrong color.

Inside, the first thing you see is an enormous Confederate battle flag hung on the back wall. There are so many people packed inside that there isn’t any room to walk, much less dance. The male-to-female ratio, from what I saw, was at least 10:1. The only visible place to dance is onstage, which is usually dominated by a slew of half-naked grinders.

The incident started when a gay couple were dancing together onstage and were — allegedly — told to “take it elsewhere.” Employees then tried to take their drinks away, despite both of them being of age. When the couple resisted, the employees then proceeded to bunch them in the face and collarbone (allegedly). One of the couple involved reports that he sustained a broken nose. The employees have no comment.

At LSU, where I go to school, students have joined together to boycott the bar, The LSU Reveille reports:

Spectrum [LGBTQ student organization at LSU] Activism Committee Chair Matthew Patterson said the organization wants to get the word out to members that the bars in Tigerland are not safe places to go.

“Unless the Reggie’s management has a total change of heart and wants to seriously talk to Spectrum and other LGBTQ organizations about how to clean up their act in general, that’s about the best thing we can really do for people,” Patterson said.

Prejudice is real. I thought things like this didn’t happen anymore.