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Restaurant Cancels Booking Because Customers Were Christian

by | Fri, Dec 9 2022

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In the latest example of growing hostility towards Americans of faith, a Virginia restaurant has refused to honour a private reservation for a Christian group because of its stance on traditional marriage and the sanctity of life.

The booking was cancelled just 90 minutes before the event.

The restaurant posted: “We have always refused service to anyone for making our staff uncomfortable or unsafe and this was the driving force behind our decision.”

The staff had never met The Family Foundation members or their donors before deciding they’d be ‘unsafe’ serving them.

Foundation president Victoria Cobb likened the rejection to that of restaurants which banned African Americans 70 years ago.

“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,” she wrote on the Foundation’s blog.

“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.”

“Everyone should be concerned that people are being denied service based on their politics,” she added.

Ms. Cobb told the Daily Signal that Americans should be shocked at this type of behaviour.

“More and more, we’re seeing Christians being canceled for their convictions.” she said.

“We all need to have a heightened sense of awareness of this polarised environment.”

“We really need to simply be willing to be brave and still hold our views and not let this chilling effort take place for those who believe things that maybe aren’t mainstream in some secular circles.”

“Most Virginians are happy to sit down and have meals with people they disagree with. This just doesn’t reflect the heart of the freedom that we want to see in our culture and our society,” she added.

The “Staff” page on The Family Foundation website was taken down “due to an increase in inappropriate messages being left for our staff.”

Ms. Cobb said there are no plans for legal action.

“While cloaking his statement in false notions of a welcoming environment, this owner’s actions were bigoted and hateful. He’s fortunate that, unlike the political left, our first reaction isn’t to turn to the government to compel others to share our views.”

A new company recently purchased the Foundation’s database provider and “immediately” cancelled the organisation as a client, costing it tens of thousands of dollars.

The Family Foundation was founded in 1985 by conservative activists Walter Barbee and Anne Kincaid and is associated with Family Policy Alliance and Focus on the Family.

CBN News reports that restaurant patron politics is not new.

Governor-elect of Arkansas Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave another Virginia restaurant in 2019 because she worked for former President Donald Trump as the White House Press Secretary.

Earlier that year, a judge sided with a New York bar that kicked out a customer for wearing a Make America Great Again hat in support of President Trump.