Leftist intolerance: Virginia restaurant turns away conservative advocacy group

12/07/2022 / By Ramon Tomey

A local restaurant in Virginia has turned away a conservative Christian advocacy group from its establishment.

Todd Gathje, director of government relations for the Family Foundation, confirmed that the Metzger Bar and Butchery in Richmond refused service to their group on Nov. 30. He claimed that the refusal had been based on the group’s religious beliefs. An hour before their scheduled reservation, one of the owners of Metzger Bar and Butchery called them up to inform that the group would not be dining in the restaurant at the appointed reservation time.

“We’ve had events at restaurants all over the city and never encountered a situation like this,” said Gathje. “It’s no secret that we are very much engaged in the public policy debate on a number of controversial issues. But we never expected that we would be denied service at a restaurant based on our religious values or political beliefs.”

In a later Facebook post, the restaurant’s owners explained their rationale for refusing to serve Gathje and the Family Foundation.

“We have very rarely refused service to anyone who wished to dine with us,” the post stated. According to the owners, they refused service to the Family Foundation after “finding out” that the group sought 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 … 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.”

Metzger Bar and Butchery’s rejection of the Family Foundation from its establishment appear to violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – which prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, sex or more.

Gathje told WRIC 8 that he thought of the restaurant’s decision to deny service to the group on the basis of their religious beliefs was an unfair one. “It was a very intolerant message being conveyed,” he said.

Despite the intolerance it experienced, the Family Foundation reiterated its openness to sit down with the owners of Metzger Bar and Butchery and talk things over.

“We would welcome an opportunity to have a discussion with them [and] meet with them in a private setting, where [we] can have a heart-to-heart [talk] about some of the issues,” Gathje remarked.

Left-leaning establishments bar conservative persons and groups

The discrimination faced by the Family Foundation in Virginia is not an isolated incident, as many other conservative persons and groups found themselves being barred from left-leaning establishments.

One such case back in 2019 involved Chick-fil-A, an establishment known for supporting conservative causes. Days before it was set to open at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport in New York state, Chick-fil-A was informed that it was no longer welcome there owing to its “anti-LGBTQ” stance. (Related: Leftists are now “deplatforming” restaurants whose owners don’t conform to the absurdity of Marxism: Chick-fil-A banned from Buffalo airport.)

New York State Sen. Sean Ryan lauded the move by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) to disinvite Chick-fil-A from the airport. The incident involving Chick-fil-A happened during his tenure as a member of the New York State Assembly.

“A publicly financed facility like the Buffalo Niagara International Airport is not the appropriate venue for a Chick-fil-A restaurant,” he said in a statement that time. “I applaud that decision that has been made to remove Chick-fil-A from the plans for this project.”

“We hope in the future [that] the NFTA will make every effort to contract with businesses that adhere to anti-discrimination policies. We’re confident another vendor who better represents the values of the western New York community will replace Chick-fil-A as a part of this project in the very near future.”

Aside from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, Chick-fil-A also found itself kicked out of the San Antonio International Airport for its “opposition to same-sex marriage.” In response, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation into whether the city of San Antonio violated the chicken sandwich chain’s religious liberty.

Intolerance.news has more stories about leftists rejecting conservatives from their establishments.

Watch David Knight criticize leftists for banning Chick-fil-A after its donation to the Salvation Army came to light.

This video is from The David Knight Show channel on Brighteon.com.