Washington, D.C. – After its blockbuster red-carpet premiere in our nation’s capital, the award-winning documentary Everyone is Welcome—featuring the David v. Goliath legal battle Eric Flannery faced to reopen his H Street neighborhood bar and grill, The Big Board—was released nationwide on Thursday, October 26.

The 24-minute short documentary debuted to a standing-room-only crowd at Angelika Pop-Up at Union Market in Washington D.C. on September 26, and featured Navy veteran Eric Flannery, U.S. Senator Rand Paul, and Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute (who is also the lead attorney representing Flannery).

Watch it here:

“Despite long odds, The Big Board made it through the worst of the government-mandated limitations and shutdowns with the help of our loyal guests, our tenacious crew, and our friends at The Buckeye Institute and Free the People. We remain steadfast in our beliefs that everyone should be welcome and that it is our solemn duty to hold the government accountable in light of its illegal overreach,” said Eric Flannery, co-owner of The Big Board.

When Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser mandated that bars and restaurants check the vaccination status of patrons and deny service to unvaccinated customers, Flannery took a public stand by tweeting, “everyone is welcome,”—indicating his refusal to discriminate against unvaccinated customers. In response, the city shut him down. Everyone is Welcome tells the story of Flannery’s legal battle to reopen The Big Board and serve the community he loves.

“The Buckeye Institute is honored to stand with Mr. Flannery, whose legal battle unfortunately continues,” said Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute and the lead attorney representing Eric Flannery. “Mr. Flannery’s courage combined with his deep love of his community, employees, patrons, and our great nation comes through clearly in the documentary, and his hospitable ‘everyone is welcome’ mantra is an inspiration to all Americans.”

“Eric’s story needs to be told, and we can’t count on the mainstream media complicit in the authoritarian overreach of covid mandates,” said Matt Kibbe, president of Free the People. “Buckeye’s relentless legal representation, combined with a compelling story about a Hero’s Journey that demands Everyone is Welcome—this is the one-two punch that spells victory.”

The Buckeye Institute assisted Flannery in getting The Big Board reopened and represents him in both Flannery v. D.C. Department of Health, which challenges D.C.’s unconstitutional emergency orders that were used to force the closure of The Big Board, as well as in Flannery v. Eckenwiler.

Everyone is Welcome is a Free the People film produced by Fight the Power Productions. The documentary won the Best Libertarian Ideals prize at the 2023 Anthem Film Festival.

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