Mikey's Late Night Slice in Columbus, OH. (
Facebook)
A recurrent fear heard by the Christian right is if gay people are widely accepted, those who disapprove of homosexuality will be shunned and treated just like racists!
See talking point #4 copied directly from National Organization for Marriage:
“If courts rule that same-sex marriage is a civil right, then, people like you and me who believe children need moms and dads will be treated like bigots and racists.”
Well, a post is circulating on Facebook that suggests there may be something to that. After years and years of heterosexists freely bullying gay people in public, the tables may be turning, even in Ohio, not exactly a hotbed of progress on LGBT issues.
A gay man visited to a popular late night pizza truck in Columbus, Ohio. While waiting in chilly outdoor line, he dared to hold hands with his—friend? boyfriend? he doesn't say—say companion. And this attracted the attention of an offended straight person, who told him to "cut [the] gay shit out."
And for a long time, these sorts of confrontations often end with the gay person visiting an emergency room. But not so this time... In the poster's own words, via Facebook:
Something incredible happened last night. After a fun night out Ethan and I were in line at the Mikey's Late Night Slice Truck (surprise!) in the Short North. It was really cold so we were holding hands and standing close together laughing and joking about all the fun we'd had. The guy in front of us turns around and tells us to cut our gay shit out. I didn't expect what happened next but almost every single person in that line made it known to him it was not ok for him to speak to us like that. Granted he was caught between two homos so John Warner and I let him know this was our city too and let him have it but the straight people who spoke up were so awesome. The best part though was as he grew more irate and vocal the guys who work the truck told him they would not serve him because he was spewing hate and that he should get out of line. As I walked away with my pizza all I could think about was THAT'S IT! Every person who spoke up to defend us including the pizza guys representing their business was doing their part to make hate a thing of the past. We must never forget to speak up and make our voices heard no matter where we find ourselves. No slut sauce for you mr. homophobe.
The author's original post has been
shared more than 700 times on Facebook and
Mikey's responded on Facebook:
Thank you Joel Diaz for sharing the account of your experience at our truck this past weekend. We can't tell you how proud we are of our truck workers that night for speaking up and doing the right thing. We are also immensely grateful for the kind words and support for us that has emerged since the post first went up.
We are humbled by the attention that this whole thing has gotten us. But we feel that the greatest recognition belongs to our neighborhood as a whole, here in the Short North. By accounts, there was no shortage of locals willing to speak up and intervene when the incident occurred. It is so wonderfully comforting to know that the hearts of our neighbors are filled with kindness and tolerance.
Thank you again, Joel, for sharing. And also to our fellow Short North denizens for standing beside your neighbors and speaking up for what's right.
This story warms the hearts of every LGBT person who reads it, because frankly most of us are kind of used to other people not standing up for us when we're harassed. It's just kind of a fact of life. This is sort of a new phenomena, and a welcome one, given how many of our teens kill themselves out of loneliness and as the only way to escape treatment like that.
How awful the world might be if hetero-supremacists to have to choose between "expressing their disapproval of homosexuality" and not getting ejected from a pizza line.
Imagine if they have to learn to keep their opinions to themselves to avoid attracting the ire of crowds of non-bigoted people!
My heart bleeds for them. And I left a note on Mikey's Late Night Slice Truck on Facebook saying thanks. Good turns deserve a thank you.
Update: I may not be able to frequent the place, but I might have to buy a tee-shirt and wear it with pride. Gay pride.