Yelp attacks response to anti-gay bigotry ... good or not?

[Jingthing]

This has been a trend in the U.S.

When a restaurant openly discriminates against gay people, they get attacked, often very humorously, on restaurant review sites, like YELP.

Of course in Thailand that wouldn't even be legal (the internet attacks that is), but it is in the U.S.

So are these YELP attacks good for the gays or is it a bit much?

Current example of a Pizzeria in Indiana that announced they would not cater their pizzas to gay weddings.

Seems kind of shabby, pizza at a wedding. but I won't judge.

“They keep it free of Homosexuals so I can enjoy my pizza without worring about some flamer lusting after my sexy man butt.” in 18 reviews

I went in today to order a large cheese pizza. To my surprise, when I entered the store, I found it deserted. When I asked the worker if it was normally this dead, they responded that due to this new Religious Freedom Restoration Act that they wouldn't serve anyone that would violate their Christian beliefs. So that meant no gays (Leviticus 18:22), no one who eats pork (Leviticus 11:7-8) or shrimp (Deuteronomy 14:9-10), no one who wears fabric made from two different fibers (Leviticus 19:19), no one who plays football (Deuteronomy 14:8), no one who shaves their beard (Leviticus 19:27), no one who works on Sundays (Exodus 20:10), no farmers who grow more than one crop (Leviticus 19:19), no one who curses their parents (Leviticus 20:9). So there was no one left to whom they could sell pizza. After their exhaustive list, I no longer wanted pizza and had to leave because the stink was so BAD in the restaurant. I think it was the smell of all-too-smug satisfaction.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/memories-pizza-walkerton

Of course the BIGGER issue here is the U.S. trend of religious anti-discrimination laws and how they're being used as a culture wars wedge issue to rather craftily justify anti-gay discrimination. Hilariously. the majority of the nation is beyond this and the right wing republican party is shooting themselves in the foot by supporting these new laws.

Edited April 1, 2015 by Jingthing

[piersbeckett]

Definitley a bit(mu)ch

[Jingthing]

It plays into the religious people's narrative. They will see this kind of yelp attack as "persecution" of their religious freedoms to be bigots. Given that gay people have the majority of the U.S. public on their side now as far as non-discrimination against gays ... there is not much to be gained by being nasty that way. Yes the fight isn't over ... but it may be time for some more sugar.

[isanbirder]

For God's sake, we're adults now! (well, some of us are)

[Jingthing]

For God's sake, we're adults now! (well, some of us are)

You can't really stop the antics of people on sites like Yelp unless the Yelp management gets involved.

Again, I think at this point, those playing such games are probably not helping because the religious fanatics who really don't want to serve gays want nothing more than evidence that they are being "persecuted" by gays. So giving them that evidence of being ganged up on by the gays basically feeds their movement.

That said, it seems Yelp (or somebody) is deleting pictures on that link as fast as they come. Some of them are really funny and they are changing all the time.

I suggest some peeks for entertainment value alone. Enjoy your pizza!

Edited April 2, 2015 by Jingthing

[Scott]

You are right. It's not really a gay wedding if they order Pizza. But, it would be fun to order about 30 pizzas and not tell them it's for a gay wedding and see what they do when the pizzas are delivered. Pass out flyers to the homeless telling them to stand by at the dumpster outside the Pizzeria for a special treat.

[Jingthing]

OK.

I guess I was right, there really was a problem with the over the top attacks on this pizza joint.

Because of it, they are now rich.

This is not a good precedent.

Expect more businesses to go all bigoted and HOPE to be attacked.

Ca-ching!

The hostile backlash to that interview saw the shop's rating on Yelp and Facebook plummet, as commenters slammed the shop for serving pizza and ice cream "with a side of bigotry."

The local station reports that an area high school coach was suspended after she tweeted what officials viewed as a death threat against the O'Connors, asking "Who's going to Walkerton IN to burn down #memoriespizza with me? Agree with #FreedomofReligion bill? 'That's a lifestyle they CHOOSE' Ignorant."

On Wednesday, O'Connor appeared on Beck's channel for an interview with right-wing activist and talk show host Dana Loesch, reports LGBT blog The New Civil Rights Movement. On the show, Loesch informed O'Connor that The Blaze had set up a GoFundMe account to support the O'Connors. At press time, that fund had collected more than $820,000 in two days.

http://www.advocate.com/business/2015/04/03/watch-indiana-pizzeria-owners-become-right-wing-martyrs-raise-820k

[thaicurious]

http://www.forwardprogressives.com/the-indiana-memories-pizza-fundraiser-is-a-conservative-media-scam/

The Indiana Memories Pizza Fundraiser Is A Conservative Media Scam

...the GoFundMe campaign that was launched to support Memories Pizza and has currently raised over half a million dollars is about as genuine as a three dollar bill....

...the page was set up by Lawrence Jones, a contributor to their TV program anchored by Dana Loesch...

...Lawrence Jones isn’t just a contributor to The Blaze, Lawrence Jones is also a political operative who has worked with James O’Keefe from Project Veritas...

...Many contributions were by anonymous donors with no comment, further raising the suspicions that many of these donations were not from individuals, but by some organization interested in promoting the story The Blaze was pushing....

Edited April 7, 2015 by thaicurious

[canman]

Should a Jewish or muslim deli be compelled to cater the Houston pig feast? Should they also be set upon for refusing to do so?

[Jingthing]

Should a Jewish or muslim deli be compelled to cater the Houston pig feast? Should they also be set upon for refusing to do so?

A Kosher or Halal deli doesn't carry pork products.

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