Atheist Group Told to Remove Sign at Tavern Meeting

Ew. I hope they didn’t leave a tip.

The post goes on to say,

We asked the manager if she’d tell a Christian group to take their signs down, and, although she said she would, we doubt very much that she would ever be faced with that situation.

Put it to the test. Once everyone is seated, put a sign on the table saying “Seal Beach Christian’s Meeting” and see what happens.

Of course that would require patronizing the place one more time, so maybe just forget it. I guess the proprietor has too many customers, so she favors Mr. Grayhair over a whole group. The natural consequence of such treatment is loss of business. Bye.

If bigoted businesses don’t want your business – take it elsewhere and tell your friends!

I recommend that someone from the atheist group SHOULD go sit there at a table with a “Seal Beach Christians Meeting” sign and see what happens. If nothing happens, file a discrimination complaint with the state.

This is my email to the Hennessey’s Tavern proprietor:

To the proprietor:
If a customer complained to you that a group quietly meeting in your tavern had a sign on the table saying, “Seal Beach Jewish Meetup Group,” or “Seal Beach African American Meetup Group” would you have asked those groups to take down their sign? That is how ugly is the bigotry that you supported by conceding to your complaining customer’s intolerance. According to reports, the Seal Beach Atheist Meetup Group was behaving appropriately, and the only basis of the complaint was that they were indeed, atheists.

Take a long hard look into your heart and rid yourself of bigotry against people who have done you no harm, and have the courage to stand up to people who ask you to go along with their bigotry.

I am the president of the ETSU Atheist and Freethought Club. We posted fliers about a meeting that was to take place at a local German restaurant.

One flier was taken down (that is extremely common) and was brought to the owner of the restaurant by a bigoted person. The owner took me aside when we had the meeting and asked me not to put their name on our fliers again. Last I heard, their sunday business had suffered due to this “association” with us.

I have no idea why this never happens when we eat at Mexican restaurants or gather at bars.

Could they all come in with t-shirts instead of a sign? Then they’d actually be asked to LEAVE, instead of just to take down a sign. Asking an entire group to leave on the above grounds would be a very ballsy move on the manager’s part, one she might not dare take. She might be more inclined to tell Mr Grayhair that “they’re not bothering anyone” rather than kick them out.

Looks like an Unruh Act violation to me. See Cal. Civil Code § 51

I’ve been to Hennessey’s in Long Beach and Hermosa Beach. It’s a fine pub, but now that I know this, I won’t be back. The Yard House isn’t that far away.

When a restaurant manager does that, it is time to play the “Do you want to lose sales?!” card. If I were you, I would say something that suggests he would lose sales and probably threaten to take the issue with the owner. Business owners typically don’t want anything happened to lose money especially during a recession. Restaurants in the US are not doing well right now during this stage of the economy.

Since you are the customer, you can definitely raise your tones and show some aggression. This way you add more pressure psychologically on the manager. I’ve done similar things on a restaurant and on a rude idiotic librarian and got what I want. 😉

There is always the lawyer card. You can threaten to suit the restaurant.

Don’t let theists step on you.

Hello from Phoenix! One of our members (Phoenix Atheist Meetup Group) posted this on our message board. We had a recent experience at an Einstein’s Bagels here when two of our members were discussing how much they enjoyed that morning’s meetup, but that it was still a bit warm to be outside (Phoenix in the summer…) when the manager said, “That’s nothing compared to where YOU’RE going!” Um…yeah, we never went back there again. Screw that place and screw Hennessey’s Tavern! We’re behind you all the way!

People should keep in mind that this doesn’t necessarily mean that the management has anything against atheists. It’s entirely possible that the business has a policy to have any signs that recieve complaints removed.

I have to have some sympathy with the business. Athiests are a very minor group. The business is there to make money thru service. Now look at the business crowd during a month period. How many atheists are there? How many religious? So the business will be prejudice against the minority that is not the major money source. So go ahead and email they will ignore them. Convince them that they will continue to make good profits after loosing the DARM customers and they will side with the atheists. Its just business. A DARM is a Dumb Ass Religious Male.

If you want some good news, the owner of the cafe where our Meetup is held came over once and said “I’m so glad your group is here; it’s about time we got somebody to balance out the bible bangers”.

This was at a tavern? Man, that makes me appreciate the coffee shop my atheist group meets at all the more. Not only do we put up a sign outside (right next to the sign for the coffee shop); we are also officially on their calendar. (There is a little room for events and art shows, you can get on the calendar for the room.) We get loud, vulgar, and sometimes downright hostile towards religion, and the employees never say a word, in fact, the employees and the owner seem to like us – perhaps because we spend a lot of money there and tip well.

Take your business down the street. Let them enjoy the old, gray-haired guy then!