A restaurant in Virginia denied service to a group of Christians because their presence in the establishment made the “woke” staff feel “uncomfortable” and “unsafe.”
Metzger Bar and Butchery in Richmond canceled a dinner reservation made by members of a Christian organization last Wednesday.
The Christians were part of the Family Foundation, which is associated with Focus on the Family and promotes traditional marriage and the right to life.
Roughly 90 minutes before the group of 15 to 20 people was due to arrive for their 7 pm dessert event, the restaurant canceled the reservation.
The foundation’s vice president of operations received a call from the restaurant notifying them their reservation had been canceled.
“One of the restaurant’s owners called our team to cancel the event,” Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb wrote in a blog post.
“As our VP of operations explained that guests were arriving at their restaurant shortly, she asked for an explanation.
“Sure enough, an employee looked up our organization, and their waitstaff refused to serve us.”
Cobb told Virginia Business that her colleague, Erica Hanko, reserved the private room at least a week prior to the event, as Virginia Business reported.
On Thursday night, the restaurant posted a statement on Instagram saying:
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 out 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.
“Even food service has now been polarized,” Cobb commented.
“It’s just disappointing that we can’t have a meal together.”
On Friday, Metzger posted a photo of a drink it called “Cracks in the Foundation” while announcing all proceeds of the cocktail’s sales Friday would be donated to the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Virginia.
Cobb stated in her blog post:
Welcome to the 21st century, where people who likely consider themselves “progressives” attempt to recreate an environment from the 1950s and early 60s, when people were denied food service due to their race.
Thankfully, in 1960, 34 brave Virginia Union University students held a peaceful lunch counter sit-in at Thalhimers Department store in Richmond to demand service at a whites-only counter.
They were convicted of trespassing but, after a tremendous legal battle, were vindicated by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Welcome to the double standard of the left, where some believe Jack Phillips must be forced to create a wedding cake as part of the celebration of a same-sex ceremony but any business should be able to deny basic goods and services to those who hold biblical values around marriage,” she added, in a reference to the Masterpiece Cakeshop court case.
One member of the sit-in, Elizabeth Johnson Rice, now 82, told Virginia Business that The Family Foundation was “not being treated fairly” by Metzger Bar and Butchery.
“Their reservation should be honored in 2022,” she added.
