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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Attorney General's Office determined there was no evidence that a Salt Lake City bar that vowed to not serve "Zionists" was being discriminatory, even though it expressed "potentially discriminatory views."
Salt Lake City's Weathered Waves, 158 S. Rio Grande, posted on Instagram at the beginning of March that Zionists are banned from its establishment. The bar is owned by Michael Valentine, who ran in Salt Lake City's recent mayoral race in which incumbent Mayor Erin Mendenhall won.
The post drew responses from leaders in Utah's Jewish community, and from the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services on March 6, which said in a statement it notified the Utah Attorney General's Office so it "may conduct an investigation on whether the business is violating discrimination laws."
In response to the announcement of an investigation, the bar said on social media Zionism is not a protected class but an ideology, and the bar bans people with the ideology to keep patrons safe.
"Banning hate speech in any and all forms is not discrimination. It's actually the opposite of that," the bar's post reads.
"And for the record, we are banning Zionists, not Jews. The exact same way we ban neo-Nazis and white supremacists and not Christians. Being religious is not an excuse or open license for racism, hate speech, and xenophobia. We have zero tolerance for it and won't abide," the bar said on Instagram in March.
According to a letter Wednesday from a division director for the attorney general's office, people contacted the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services and said they were denied service based on "their Jewish religious affiliation/Zionist beliefs."
Those complaints were forwarded to the attorney general for investigation of the claims of discrimination. Division director Amanda Montague said in the letter she believes the allegations, if substantiated, could be discriminatory and considered a violation of Utah code.
The letter, addressed to the bar owner, says that if people were denied service because they are Jewish, that would constitute as religious discrimination. The letter also states banning Zionism and discriminating against Zionist beliefs is considered antisemitic "when it is used to express opposition to the continued existence of the state of Israel or to the Jewish religion."
"Despite your expressing potentially discriminatory views, we are unable to substantiate claims that you have denied service to anyone, at this time. Additionally, there is no evidence that you have otherwise discriminated against or mistreated anyone seeking to patronize your establishment. Thus, we will take no further action on the current complaints," the letter states.
The letter continued to say in an effort to "conciliate" the claims of discrimination, the office "strongly" urges the bar to reconsider its statement to not serve individuals expressing certain beliefs.
"You are entitled to express your views freely, but you are not entitled to deny someone service or otherwise discriminate based on someone's religion, ancestry, or national origin. We would further warn that if you continue to advertise that you will not serve certain individuals, we are likely to get more complaints and will need to investigate each complaint," the letter concluded.
The bar posted photos of the letter on social media Wednesday and said in the caption the ban will stay in place.
"Congratulations, Utah, we might possibly be the first bar in America to successfully ban Zionists, Nazis, transphobes, homophobes, sexists, racists and any and all hate speech," the post said. "We would like to see every establishment locally and nationwide adopt the same ban in their locations to keep their patrons safe. We'd also encourage every place to speak up against genocide, imperialism, colonialism, and stand for human rights and the people of Palestine."
The bar's caption claimed many of those who complained to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services lied to say the bar banned Jewish patrons or people wearing the Star of David. The bar said it intends to get copies of all of the complaints.
