Say Anything Blog

They were apparently ejected by security at the restaurant, and their ejection was backed up by a cop.  Now civil rights activists think they have a case.

EL PASO—Two gay men kissed at a Chico’s Tacos restaurant, prompting guards to eject them and a police officer to endorse their ouster.

Civil-rights lawyers say the security staff was out of line. Police, though, contend that a business such as a restaurant can refuse service to anybody, any time.

In all, five men were ordered to leave the restaurant. They say they were forced out by homophobic guards.

“It was a simple kiss on the lips,” said Carlos Diaz de Leon, a gay man who was part of the group.

He called police at 12:30 a.m. June 29 because he said the guards and restaurant had discriminated against the group after two of his friends kissed in public.

The five men, all gay, were placing their order at the Chico’s Tacos restaurant on Montwood when the men kissed. All five sat down, but the two guards at the restaurant told them to leave.

First, let me say that if this were my restaurant I wouldn’t have kicked the men out (presuming it was just kissing and not a make-out session).  That being said, is this a civil rights issue?  I really don’t think it is.

Kissing is a voluntary activity.  You can choose to do it or not to do it.  Being black, as an example, is not a choice.  You are born that way.  So getting kicked out of a restaurant because you’re kissing your boyfriend isn’t the same thing as getting kicked out because of the color of your skin.  Though when we’re talking about a privately-owned establishment, I’m not so sure the proprietors shouldn’t be able to decide who they want to serve and who they don’t regardless of what the world at large thinks of their reasoning.  I don’t think discrimination is right by any stretch of the imagination, but individual liberty is something I take very seriously.

Property owners have rights.  This is established in the Constitution.  There is no right, though, to demand that private business owners cater to you as a customer no matter who or what you are.

I believe in freedom for everyone.  That means that while you have free speech, other people are free to ignore you.  Or criticize you.  It also means that while you’re free to kiss whoever you want (presuming they’re of age), but others who disapprove of your choice in kissing partners don’t necessarily have to do business with you.

This is not a civil rights issue.  A stupid decision by the restaurant, it appears, but nothing constitutional.