January 30, 2012

So what do you do if you see a notorious bigot (and state senator) come into your bistro for Sunday brunch? If you've got the moxy of Martha Boggs you tell him to take a hike, that his business just isn't welcome at your restaurant.

via Towle Road:

Knoxville, Tennessee restaurant Bistro at the Bijou is receiving boatloads of support on Facebook after reports began surfacing that it refused service to state Senator Stacey Campfield out and asked him to leave.

Campfield is also getting blowback from local news outlets in Tennessee over his remarks.

Campfield, who has been in the news again recently because he's still trying to push his heinous homophobic "don't say gay" bill in Tennessee, gave an interview last week to Michelangelo Signorile in which he asserted that bullying of gay kids "is a lark", compared homosexuality to sex with animals, asserted that homosexuality is "glorified" in the media, and that it's "virtually impossible" for heterosexuals to contract AIDS.

And more at the Knoxville News Sentinel where many in the community are applauding Boggs' actions.

Martha Boggs, owner of the Bistro at the Bijou, says she ordered state Sen. Stacey Campfield out of her Gay Street restaurant and banned him from brunch Sunday in disgust over his recent remarks about gays and the origin of the AIDS virus.

"When I saw him at the front door, I told him to leave," Boggs said Monday. "It's just my way to show support for the gay community and stand up to somebody I think is a bully. He's really gone from being stupid to dangerous. I think he needs to know what it feels like to be discriminated against."

Campfield responded with a blog post comparing himself to Jesus Christ and to the civil-rights demonstrators of the 1960s.

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