Posted on 03/16/2007 6:44:11 AM PDT by meg88
Just one kiss. That’s all it took — to get thrown out of the IHOP in Grandview.
“It was a kiss I would share with my uncle,” Blair Funk told me. Except it wasn’t her uncle she kissed. It was her honey, Eva Sandoval.
Two young women sharing a kiss didn’t seem inappropriate to the other couple in the restaurant booth that night, Jackie Smith and the woman with whom she shares her life, Toni Smith. But someone watching the scene was offended.
So later, the manager confronted them in the lobby and told them to get out.
The way Blair tells it, “He said, ‘I have to tell you, we’ve had some complaints about public displays of affection, and we’re a family restaurant. We can’t accept it, and we won’t accept it.’
“The way he worded it was like: We don’t accept you.”
These days it’s rare for gays and lesbians to be denied service in restaurants for acting like who they are. Blair assures me that she and Eva did nothing that wouldn’t have been appropriate for a man and a woman to do at a dinner date. No heavy makeout. No groping.
However, incidents like this one are not unheard of, and the people affected often can do nothing about it.
There is no federal law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Neither Kansas nor Missouri are among the few states that protect gay people from being discriminated against in areas of employment, housing and public accommodations.
Kansas City does have an ordinance protecting gays, as do St. Louis, Columbia and University City. But if you’re anywhere else in Missouri and you’re gay, you can legally be denied service in restaurant. Landlords can refuse to rent you a place to live.
You can even be canned from your job on the suspicion that you’re romantically inclined toward members of your own sex.
“Many people are shocked to hear that people can be fired from their jobs for being gay or being perceived to be gay,” says Julie Brueggemann, executive director of the Missouri gay rights group Promo.
That would change if bills pending in Kansas and Missouri would ever pass. It’s only the first year for Senate Bill 163 in Kansas. But the so-called Missouri Nondiscrimination Act, House Bill 819, has been up time and again.
And as in past years, it has almost zero chance in Jefferson City, says Rep. Jeneé Lowe, a Kansas City Democrat, the bill’s sponsor.
“It’s surprising to me,” Lowe says, “how many people think there’s federal legislation. But there is no law.”
No law, but there is power in public opinion. So the night that she and her friends were evicted from the restaurant, Jackie Smith started tapping furiously on her computer keyboard.
E-mails to the media yielded a TV report on Fox 4, as well as a call from me.
Promo and other civil rights groups responded with support. IHOP was apologetic.
“Thank you for taking the time to contact us concerning your experience at the IHOP in Grandview,” began the letter from someone identifying himself as the guest services representative at the company’s headquarters in Glendale, Calif.
“We are sorry to learn of the difficulties you encountered at this location. Please be assured that the matter will be shared with the proper individuals to address your concerns.”
When I called the Grandview restaurant for comment I was told to ring the company headquarters. But the P.R. director there failed to return my phone calls. However, I can tell you that the restaurant chain wants Blair, Eva, Jackie and Toni to come back for pancakes sometime.
“It is our hope,” the guest services rep wrote, “that you will once again allow us to earn your patronage.”
Jackie isn’t ruling it out entirely.
“But it’s not likely,” she said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To reach Mike Hendricks, call (816) 234-7708, or send e-mail to mhendricks@kcstar.com.
I got booted from an outdoor cafe because my dog licked his balls.
This is exactly the kind of thing the "gay" community does NOT need to be doing if they want to gain more support for their position.
I really don't care what anyone does in the privacy of their bedrooms, but some of this stuff is over the top, and it really alienates people.
Yup, and despite all the propaganda a lot of us never will. Depraved conduct should get that response a lot more often.
I call BS ... there was more then just a peck on the cheek
Hard to divine Mike Hendricks' true views on the subject in this hit piece, huh.
...because he can.
She's a mind reader as well as a lesbian? No body has a RIGHT to service.
There was obviously more than "uncle kisses" (unless she and uncle...) going on or so many wouldn't have been offended. Gays, illegals, Muslims, and all the other supposed little PC groups are the downfall of the US.
ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!
It's impossible to know, but how long was the kiss? When I worked in retail, it would burn me to no end when couples would make out on my line (and it actually happened many times). Couples would do this in front of children, or keep up so long that they would hold up the line for the register. A peck? Sweet. Anything longer? Keep it home.
Good for IHOP. It's a family environment that doesn't need such displays. You shouldn't have to explain this to your six year-old (that is if your six year old hasn't already been indoctrinated in school).
IHOP: Come hungry, leave happy!
I was in a bar and my dog did the same thing...one of the other patrons looked at him and then said to me..."I wish I could do that." to whit I replied...."go ahead...he don't bite."
“The way he worded it was like: We don’t accept you.”
Ah... the eternal narcissist. It really is all about the world embracing you.
This is from personal experience, but I've known several gay people in my life. In fact, my best friend from 1984-2000 (when he died) was gay. So much of the whining, "we want tolerance" sub culture is that its marked with a desperate, militantly narcissistic need for attention and praise.
I've seen straight couples act innapropriately in public places and have been booted as a result. This woman treats it as a PERSONAL rejection of HER, as if the manager had a personal vendetta against her and not her behavior at large.
A desperate cry for attention and validation, sad.
agreed....
But they will get slapped down for this and get slapped down hard.
Just watch.
We got the boot from the Cafe when I just had one dog (pure German Shep.) During a less ethical, more alcohol-driven period of my life I'd put on dark glasses and take him with me into bars, movie theaters, etc. He's very meticulous about his hygiene, and is by far, the more grown-up between the two of us. My little one is a Hurricane Katrina rescue (mostly shepherd, and I suspect border collie) and he's the one that likes to experience the world by tongue.
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