It used to be, if you had a problem with service at a restaurant, you spoke with the manager. But Maryland couple Aiyi-nah Ford and Torian Brown didn’t have that option — since it was the manager of the Tastee Diner who kicked them out.
Ford and Brown say they were just holding each other (not even kissing!) when the manager, Lisa Wilkes, asked them to leave. His reason? Tastee was a “family establishment.” Nevermind it was 2 o’clock in the morning, and it’s doubtful Jon & Kate brought all eight of their children. But Wilkes says the pair were more than holding; they were fondling!
So what’d they do about it? Ford used her blog radio show to call for others to join them in demonstrating at the restaurant on Wednesday night, where some 40 folks showed up. And then: they filed a complaint.
Except now the restaurant says it has security footage that shows they were acting more explicit than they admitted. Namely, they were caressing. Scary!
How about we take this to the next level?
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“They had their bodies pressed and rubbed up against one another, and at one point, one of their faces goes down in the other girl’s breast, and we found that to be inappropriate,” General Manager John Littleton said.
The diner released several minutes of surveillance video, which it contends shows the inappropriate behavior and justifies the night manager’s decision.
“If you start touching each other and going beyond the point of kissing and things start to become a little bit X-rated, we’re going to ask you to stop,” said Lisa Wilkes, whose family owns three popular diners. “And if you don’t stop, we’re going to ask you to leave.”
The diner is willing to sit down with the women to discuss the incident, Littleton said. The couple said they were embarrassed and have not been offered an apology.
They do not intend to eat at the restaurant again, but they have filed a complaint with the Maryland Commission on Human Relations. They said the commission has opened a preliminary investigation.
But as we learn, from San Francisco to El Paso, it’s never about the interaction between two people who love each other that restaurants really have a problem with. It’s that they’re of the same sex. To Tastee’s credit, they’re at least willing to sit down with the women to discuss what happened. Ford and Brown should accept the invitation.
Jim
Were
jason
I personally don’t want to see petting in any gender combination in restaurants, thanks.
My only reservation is this: if the manager of said restaurant allows heterosexual couples to pet but not homosexual ones, then he clearly is discriminating. If it can be determined that he has one standard for heteros and one for homos, then he ought to be held accountable.
Andrew
Somehow I doubt the diner kicks out straight folks who do the same. Christ, I see straight couples practically deep throating in public. Same old double-standard. We have to see heteros being all lovey-dovey, all the time, everywhere…
ousslander
there’s a dif between lovey dovey and groping and simulating breast feeding. I would have tossed my lunch whether straight or gay.
scott
These comments all assume the two were kicked out – but the manager of the diner at the time was on TV saying he asked them to stop first. So this whole article is based on an assumption that the manager was lying – and I don’t think any of us know that to be the case or not the case. So chill out everyone!