The Mayor up in Williston, ND, Howie Klug, called me today, really upset.
He told me the story of a strip bar in his city he had worked so hard to close. It is not a good Christian business even in the oil fields. Just as he began to make some progress, oil prices fell and the strip bar with its harlots fell on hard times.
Now, the owner of the strip bar is opening a bar for homers, a "gay bar". I could only sympathize with my friend, Mayor Howie. All those unemployed oil workers will now be tempted with sodomy. Carnal lust will take over Williston, ND:
DIALOGUES: Williston could use a good gay bar Whispers and Heartbreakers strip clubs in Williston have received national attention. photo by Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald
Tonight is a seminal night in the long, winding, bizarre and ever-evolving story that is Williston.
For the very last time, Heartbreakers, the last downtown strip club to hold out against the city’s plan to refashion and sterilize its image, will feature topless dancers, a day ahead of the city’s order to cut it out.
Good riddance, say some. Let the market take care of itself, say others, but whatever your opinion, it’s undeniable that after tonight, an indelible image of the Williston story will fade into the museum of memory.
Just think of the thousands and thousands of young men who stepped off the Amtrak in search of that “Last Great Place for Opportunity.” Their first image: the green awning of Whispers, the red awning of Heartbreakers and, casting a shadow over them both, a giant mural on the side of the Salvation Army building depicting the Ten Commandments — what could be more Christmas morning than that?
It would be easy to presume that Heartbreakers owner Jarod Holbrook’s plan to turn his strip club into a gay bar is little more than a bluff, a publicity stunt to try to get his way in a last-ditch effort of ironic defiance.
If that’s the case, the passive-aggressive ruse might make him feel a little better for a little while, but it won’t do anything to help his situation.
The city is clearly dug in on this, and it seems Holbrook is dug in, too. He said the support he’s gotten from a larger-than-you-might-think Williston LGBT community makes the region’s first gay bar a smart business move.