Richmond, Virginia – A conservative Christian advocacy group was refused service and turned away from Metzger Bar and Butchery last Wednesday.
Members of the Family Foundation were turned away from Metzger Bar and Butchery for their beliefs.
“We have always refused service to anyone for making our staff feel uncomfortable and unsafe and this was the driving force behind our decision,” Metzger Bar and Butchery said in a Facebook post.
The restaurant said that the Christian group made LGBTQ and female staffers feel threatened because of their beliefs.
The restaurant staffers believe the Family Foundation “seeks to deprive women and LGBTQ+ persons of their basic rights in Virginia.”
WRIC reported:
A Virginia-based conservative Christian advocacy group was turned away from a local restaurant just an hour before their reservation last week.
A representative of the Family Foundation said he was frustrated after the group was turned away from Metzger Bar and Butchery last Wednesday. The group claims the refusal had to do with their religious beliefs.
According to Todd Gathje, Director of Government Relations for the Family Foundation, one of the owners of Metzger called a representative of the Family Foundation about an hour before the reservation time, saying that the group would not be dining in the restaurant.
“We’ve had events at restaurants all over the city and never encountered a situation like this,” Gathje said. “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.”
For businesses like restaurants, federal and state laws do not allow discrimination based on protected classes such as race, religion, sex and more, as defined by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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