(ReclaimingAmerica.net) – A Christian nonprofit organization, the Family Foundation of Virginia, has been refused service at a Richmond, Virginia restaurant because of its members’ religious views.
The Family Foundation of Virginia had booked space for a private gathering at Metzger Bar and Butchery in the city, only to get a notification an hour and a half before the event that the venue had canceled its reservation.
Victoria Cobb, president of the Christian lobbying group, revealed the restaurant’s reason for refusing them service, as cited by The New York Post.
She said a restaurant staffer checked out the group’s website and found that it advocates for Christianity and “policies based on Biblical principles that enable families to flourish at the state and local level.”
“It’s alarming and disgraceful that a restaurant has a religious or political litmus test for who gets in the door,” Cobb told Fox News.
“I think people will find that very disturbing,” she added.
Metzger Bar & Butchery made a social media post, admitting it had canceled the Family Foundation of Virginia reservation because of its members’ religious beliefs and political advocacy. At the same time, it claimed to be fostering an “inclusive environment” for its clients.
“Metzger Bar and Butchery has always prided itself on being an inclusive environment for people to dine in,” the restaurant’s management wrote.
“In eight years of service, we have very rarely refused service to anyone who wished to dine with us. Recently we refused service to a group that had booked an event with us after the owners of Metzger found out it was a group of donors to a political organization that seeks to deprive women and LGBTQ+ persons of their basic human rights in Virginia,” it elaborated.
The restaurant insisted it had “always refused service to anyone for making our staff uncomfortable,” which led it to cancel the Christian group’s reservation.
“Many of our staff are women and/or members of the LGBTQ+ community. All of our staff are people with rights who deserve dignity and a safe work environment,” argued the Metzger Bar and Butchery.
Cobb reacted by stating that her group treated everyone with respect, which was why its members were upset over the restaurant’s explanation.
“It’s so amazingly hypocritical to pride yourself on creating an inclusive environment and announce that in order to defend how you exclude people from your restaurant,” Cobb said.
After the incident became public, the Family Foundation of Virginia received multiple hate speech messages.
“F*** you, f*** your religion. Every single one of you should face retribution,” said one message entitled, “kill yourself.”
Another message called the group “bible toting freaks” and declared, “Hail Satan!”
Christian group denied service at Virginia restaurant over religious views https://t.co/C7Wlox4lq0 pic.twitter.com/ikChXmVHqo
— New York Post (@nypost) December 11, 2022
