gay restaurant refusing to serve a Christian group

 Here is what the restaurant said on Instagram:

“Metzger Bar and Butchery has always prided itself on being an inclusive environment for people to dine in. In eight years of service we have very rarely refused service to anyone who wished to dine with us. 

Recently we refused service to a group that had booked an event with us after the owners of Metzger found it was a group of donors to a political organization that seeks to deprive women and LGBTQ+ persons of their basic human rights in Virginia. 

We have always refused service to anyone for making our staff uncomfortable or unsafe and this was the driving force behind our decision. 

Many of our staff are women and/or members of the LGBTQ+ community. All of our staff are people with rights who deserve dignity and a safe work environment. 

We respect our staff’s established rights as humans and strive to create a work environment where they can do their jobs with dignity, comfort and safety.”

Okey-dokey. I have a couple of problems with this. The first one being, how do customers opposing abortion create a hostile work environment for the employees? Abortion is not a topic that usually comes up in the interactions between customers and restaurant staff.

I doubt very much that when a server introduces themselves, the customers at that table question them about their beliefs on abortion or if they have had an abortion or are contemplating having an abortion. Usually, the initial conversation revolves around the drink orders.

Besides, it’s Virginia, for God’s sake. Every other person is pro-life so it’s nearly impossible to walk down the street without being exposed to someone who opposes abortion. Why does the staff at this restaurant need to be protected from something that they are exposed to on a daily basis?

Then we have the whole LGBTQ+ situation. I have yet to eat in a restaurant where the server comes to the table and says “Hi, I’m Hannah. I’m a lesbian and I’ll be your server tonight.” My point being even if they care, how will the customers know that their server is gay?

And if it is such a big issue, the group could have asked before making the reservation if any of the staff was gay or even asked for a straight server. Since they didn’t, obviously they didn’t care about the sexual orientation of the staff.

Again, it’s Virginia, for God’s sake. Every other person is anti-gay. Why do the restaurant owners feel compelled to “protect” their employees from what passes for normal life in Virginia?

If a customer makes a staff member uncomfortable, like telling Hannah that she’s going to burn in hell because she’s a lesbian, then you ask the customer to leave. 

If the entire group makes Hannah uncomfortable by starting a prayer circle to pray away the gay, then you ask the entire group to leave.

I think maybe the problem is that I’m a Libra. I always have to look at both sides of a situation and try to figure out what is fair.

And I’m having a hard time figuring out why it is fair to expect a Open in app

Restaurant Cancels Reservation for Conservative Christian Group

The owners said the group’s views made the restaurant staff uncomfortable

Photo by Zakaria Zayane on Unsplash

Here is an interesting conundrum for you. I’m genuinely interested in your take on this situation, so please leave a comment in the comments section, whether you agree with me or not.

We can all agree that a Christian baker should bake wedding cakes for gay couples, even if it violates his religious beliefs. And I think that we can also agree that a Christian web designer should design websites for gay weddings (currently before the Supreme Court) even if it violates her religious beliefs.

Now, how about a gay restaurant refusing to serve a Christian group?

It actually happened. In Richmond, Virginia. A conservative Christian group made a reservation at a local restaurant which was canceled by the restaurant one hour before it was scheduled because one of the wait staff looked up the group and discovered that the group opposed same-sex marriage and abortion.

Here is what the restaurant said on Instagram:

“Metzger Bar and Butchery has always prided itself on being an inclusive environment for people to dine in. In eight years of service we have very rarely refused service to anyone who wished to dine with us. 

Recently we refused service to a group that had booked an event with us after the owners of Metzger found it was a group of donors to a political organization that seeks to deprive women and LGBTQ+ persons of their basic human rights in Virginia. 

We have always refused service to anyone for making our staff uncomfortable or unsafe and this was the driving force behind our decision. Many of our staff are women and/or members of the LGBTQ+ community. 

All of our staff are people with rights who deserve dignity and a safe work environment. We respect our staff’s established rights as humans and strive to create a work environment where they can do their jobs with dignity, comfort and safety.”

Okey-dokey. I have a couple of problems with this. The first one being, how do customers opposing abortion create a hostile work environment for the employees? Abortion is not a topic that usually comes up in the interactions between customers and restaurant staff.

I doubt very much that when a server introduces themselves, the customers at that table question them about their beliefs on abortion or if they have had an abortion or are contemplating having an abortion. Usually, the initial conversation revolves around the drink orders.

Besides, it’s Virginia, for God’s sake. Every other person is pro-life so it’s nearly impossible to walk down the street without being exposed to someone who opposes abortion. Why does the staff at this restaurant need to be protected from something that they are exposed to on a daily basis?

Then we have the whole LGBTQ+ situation. I have yet to eat in a restaurant where the server comes to the table and says “Hi, I’m Hannah. I’m a lesbian and I’ll be your server tonight.” My point being even if they care, how will the customers know that their server is gay?

And if it is such a big issue, the group could have asked before making the reservation if any of the staff was gay or even asked for a straight server. Since they didn’t, obviously they didn’t care about the sexual orientation of the staff.

Again, it’s Virginia, for God’s sake. Every other person is anti-gay. Why do the restaurant owners feel compelled to “protect” their employees from what passes for normal life in Virginia?

If a customer makes a staff member uncomfortable, like telling Hannah that she’s going to burn in hell because she’s a lesbian, then you ask the customer to leave. If the entire group makes Hannah uncomfortable by starting a prayer circle to pray away the gay, then you ask the entire group to leave.

I think maybe the problem is that I’m a Libra. I always have to look at both sides of a situation and try to figure out what is fair.

And I’m having a hard time figuring out why it is fair to expect a Christian baker to bake gay wedding cakes or expect a Christian web designer to design gay wedding sites, but it’s not fair to expect restaurant staff who are “women and/or members of the LGBTQ+ community” to serve conservative Christians.

To me, the law is very clear. If you serve the public, you must serve all of the public. You cannot discriminate against anyone. Except maybe the person waving a gun around demanding the contents of the register. Them, you might want to refuse service to. But everybody else? You gotta serve them, no matter how uncomfortable they make you feel.

Think of it this way. Their money isn’t gay or pro-choice. It’s legal tender in the U.S. and will go a long way toward paying off those business loans. If you have a problem with where it’s been, then you can discreetly sanitize it.

But to refuse to take their money because they make you feel uncomfortable, well, that’s just plain silly.

The topic is now open for discussion in the comment section. I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts on this issue.