A Christian and conservative nonprofit organization was denied service at a Virginia restaurant when LGBTQ staff members claimed that they felt “uncomfortable” and “unsafe” by the prospect of serving people who disagreed with their worldview.
The Family Foundation scheduled a reservation at Metzger Bar and Butchery for an event consisting of 15-20 people including staff members and supporters of the organization. The reservation was then canceled less than two hours before the reservation was set because an employee at the restaurant looked into the foundation’s history and complained to management.
“For weeks, we had planned a gathering of supporters and interested people in a private room to fellowship and receive an update on our work. About an hour and a half before the event was set to take place, one of the restaurant’s owners called our team to cancel the event.”
The Family Foundation
Metzger Bar and Butchery posted a statement regarding the cancellation to Facebook, but did not name The Family Foundation directly, and simply stated that the organization “seeks to deprive women and LGBTQ+ persons of their basic human rights in Virginia.”
“Metzger Bar and Butchery has always prided itself on being an inclusive environment for people to dine in . . . 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 . . . Many of our staff are women and/or members of the LGBTQ+ community . . . 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.”
Statement provided by Metzger Bar and Butchery
Whether or not private businesses should have the right and ability to deny services to individuals or groups on the basis of personal beliefs has been a highly contentious debate since 2012 when the Supreme Court heard a case regarding religious freedoms.
Masterpiece Cake Shop V. Colorado Civil Rights Commission ruled that Colorado bakery owner, Jack Phillips, had the right to deny a specific product’s creation, in this case, a wedding cake for a homosexual couple, on the basis of his “sincerely held religious beliefs,” which are protected by the First Amendment. Phillips did not deny all services to the couple, and offered them any of his already created, generic cake designs, but would not personally endorse a wedding that contradicted his religious beliefs.
“Is a business’s freedom to choose its customers more important than the government interest in stopping sexual orientation discrimination? The Supreme Court did not answer this question, but instead decided the case on narrower grounds by concluding that members of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission expressed impermissible hostility to religion.”
American Bar Association
Though the Supreme Court ruled in Phillips’ favor, the opinion was still considered vague, and did not create a strong case precedent for future challenges.
“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.”
The Family Foundation
Still, many on the left continued to demonize Phillips and Christians at-large who are opposed to the radical narratives put forward by the LGBTQ crowd. Recently, Muslim and Christian parents joined together in a lawsuit against Bethel Local School District in Ohio for enacting a transgender restroom policy in secret.
Many of the most powerful institutions in the US are clearly opposed to traditional religious beliefs, but are comfortable bushing secular beliefs which includes radically redefining gender.
