Dallas-Area Gay Bar Mable Peabody’s Destroyed in Arson Blaze

Intruders vandalized, robbed, and set Mable Peabody’s Beauty Parlor and Chainsaw Repair ablaze in Denton, Texas early Wednesday, destroying it. The gay bar has been around for decades, reports the Dallas Morning News:

“Margaret Honeycutt opened the club 27 years ago, Ms. Sanders said. Back then, she said, it was a brave move to open a club for gay men and women. Ms. Sanders said she has had no trouble and has no idea who might have set the fires. Ms. Sanders said that when she bought the club, she came up with the unusual name with the help of “a lot of wine.” She wants to reopen, she said, but it’s too soon to know what she will do. ‘I think I lost my identity along with my business,’ she said.”

Sanders, who has owned Mable Peabody’s for 13 years, says she has no idea why the club was targeted: “They broke in and took liquor and threw chairs all over the place. They destroyed the whole bar before they burned it. I wonder if it could have been a gay-bashing deal. I have no idea.”

Blaze at Gay Club Ruled Arson [dallas morning news]