TW: Ableism, homophobia, racism, slurs
The owner of a restaurant in Oklahoma is facing well-deserved backlash online after making a series of comments implying that he doesn’t want to serve gays, Muslims, disabled people, welfare recipients, Democrats or other “freaks.”
It started when Matt Gard claimed that Gary James, the owner of Gary’s Chicaros restaurant, banned him from the restaurant because he’s in a wheelchair. From there, it was brought to the media’s attention that the restaurant’s official t-shirt uses racist and homophobic slurs to list who’s not welcome, paired with the image of a target. And Gary’s comments on the matter didn’t refute it.
James doesn’t deny that he thinks some people shouldn’t patronize his restaurant. “Well if you work, you own a business, pay your taxes, you’re more than welcome here,” he told KFOR. “If you’re on welfare, stay at home and spend my money, there. I don’t deal with these people walking down the street with no jobs on welfare.”
Gard also claims that James has routinely turned away customers for decades. “He doesn’t like certain people of race, color, ethnicity,” Gard said of James.
James told KFOR that he’s owned Gary’s Chicaros for 44 years, so he “think[s] I can spot a freak or a f*ggot.”
PS: Because Oklahoma doesn’t have anti-discrimination protections in place for LGBT people, it’s legal under state law to refuse restaurant service to a person because they’re gay. This is the world we live in.
PPS: This is the restaurant’s Yelp page. Do with it what you will.
This is infuriating.
