Virginia restaurant cancels Family Foundation event over group's views on abortion, traditional marriage
The Family Foundation said it is exploring its options of action
A Virginia restaurant last week refused to serve a Christian conservative group over its views on abortion and traditional marriage.
The Family Foundation scheduled an event Wednesday, November 30, at the Metzger Bar and Butchery. The restaurant later learned of the group’s political and religious views and canceled their event about an hour and a half before it was set to begin.
The restaurant referred FOX Business to its statement last week when reached for comment Tuesday evening.
The Metzger Bar and Butchery in Richmond, VA, refused to serve a Christian conservative group over its views on marriage and abortion. (Google Maps / Google Maps)
"Metzger Bar and Butchery has always prided itself on being an inclusive environment for people to dine in," the restaurant said in a statement posted on Twitter last week. "In eight years of service we have very rarely refused service to anyone who wished to dine with us."
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The restaurant said it refused service to the Family Foundation after the owners "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."
"We have always refused service to anyone for making our staff uncomfortable or unsafe and this was the driving force behind our decision," the restaurant said, noting that many of its staff are "women and/or members of the LGBTQ+ community."
"We respect our staff’s established rights as humans and strive to create a work environment where they can do their jobs with dignity, comfort, and safety," the restaurant said.
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The Family Foundation said the restaurant’s actions reflect people who consider themselves "progressive" yet "attempt to recreate an environment from the 1950s and early 60s, when people were denied food service due to their race."
Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb said the organization is continuing "to explore our options of action while we encourage customers to dine where owners don’t have a political or religious litmus test."
The organization is accusing Yelp of "running interference for Metzer’s by shutting down people’s ability to post a review, while Google is perfectly fine to let negative reviews stack up against our organization."
"Bigotry by the left is aided and abetted by big tech and Americans know it," Cobb said.
A notice on the restaurant’s Yelp page says the business is being monitored by Yelp’s Support team for an "unusual activity alert."
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"This business recently received public attention, which often means people come to this page to post their views on the news," the notice reads.