“Fucking Dykes” Might Want To Avoid The Sizzler’s Breakfast Buffet
When lesbian Liza Friedlander and her two pals went to the Queens Sizzler on September 18, 2010 she paid for the breakfast buffet and allegedly got shoved onto the floor, kicked in the legs, and called a “fucking dyke” by a manager who said she hadn’t paid. As the manager harassed her to leave, the patrons reportedly joined in the anti-gay fun by calling Friedlander a “he-she freak,” one man throwing things at her and threatening to sexually assault by showing her “what a dick is.”
The manager denies the attack and says Friedlander totally started it, but Lambda Legal has gone ahead and filed a lawsuit against the Forest Hills Sizzler anyway for violating city and state anti-discrimination and public accommodation laws.
Eating at the Sizzler really is bad for you. And here’s two other Sizzlers you might want to avoid…
Am I the only one who kind of feels like she’s a liar? This just seems really farfetched. Why would a manager ever think people would be cool with them kicking a patron? Better yet, I find it hard to believe that the rest of the restaurant joined in like that.
I know you want to help her play victim because she’s a lesbian. But us homos are liars just as often as everyone else.
·
I don’t know if she’s a liar – but the crazy, histrionic press releases does her story a disservice. It reads like an angry queer’s wet dream, calculated to work up the community at all costs. Common sense: A threat of rape should have resulted in a call to 911. Police report? no, only a call to a law firm with a demand for restitution.
Remember, you haven’t heard her story, just read the press release from a law group that – no matter how sincerely well-intentioned- isn’t exactly top-tier.
And is the guy’s guilty? Is there any worse punishment than managing a Sizzler in the ass-crack of Queens?
·
I have been to this Sizzler’s many times. If this story is true then that’s scary. The management there sucks (it changed management about two years ago and the service hasn’t been the same since) but I never had any issue like that (then again we didn’t throw the gay thing in their face either).
·
I’m not going to bother arguing about whether this is true or not, but his defense of “I didn’t do it and besides she started it!” is really bizarre.
·
I’m sorry, but the way she tells it, it sounds like a John Waters movie. It’s dripping with parody. What happened after that? Did she hijack a bus to get away? Did someone smash a chair over the back of her head and take a picture? How did they know she was a lesbian in the first place? Most retail workers are sheep, too afraid to confront a rude or irate customer. I don’t think I believe her.
·
Reminds me of a transphobic attack in McDonald’s a few months ago. Only that attack wasn’t started by the MANAGER.
·
Seems like it’s pretty easy to figure out who’s telling the truth–each party claims to have called 911, and it’s unlikely they both did in the way they described unless one is a master at setting up an alibi. What do the phone records and/or 911 recordings say?
·
Who knows if Friedlander’s claims are actually true, but I agree with the above comments that this story sounds really sketchy. From what I understand from other news reports, this incident happened almost a year ago, and the manager in question apparently still has his job. I find it hard to believe that a restaurant manager anywhere would not only physically attack a completely innocent customer, but then essentially incite other customers to join in on the attack. This story as outlined in Lambda’s press release just doesn’t add up.
·
@ No. 12 Carl: Just FYI — if you read the actual complaint Lambda Legal filed, it repeatedly says that the other customers’ actions were “instigated” by the manager. The full legal document is available on Lambda Legal’s website.
·
She is best friends with Ian Bernardo. That in itself shows what this is all about.
·
To the people who say that the restaurant joining in sounds like a lie……did you SEE that video of the transwoman attacked in MacDonalds when the other patron joined in? Or Chuck E Cheese when an attack on one patron spread and the entire crowd got into it? Some of the posts on here sound very trollike.
·
@ Jacob “( then again we didn’t throw the gay thing in their face either) ” … so if you live your life openly and honestly as a gay man or woman you deserve to be harassed and/or attacked???
·
I’m sorry, but I’m not convinced she is telling the truth. This story is too way out there.