US: Waitress fired after calling group ‘gay bitches’ on receipt
A waitress who labelled a group of customers ‘gay bitches’ has been fired for doing so.
A complaint was filed earlier this week at the District of Columbia Office of Human Right by LGBT rights-based law firm Lambda Legal, on behalf of trans woman Amira Gray.
According to Bilerico, a statement from Bistro18 confirmed the waitress has been fired.
The statement read: “The management at Bistro18 took extreme and immediate measures in dealing with the situation.
“The employee was fired that night and Ms Gray received an apology from the employee and the management as well as her check was waived to express the apology.
“Bistro18 does not and will not tolerate any discrimination in the business as it has been hosting customers and employing regardless to race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, and national of origin.”
Zakaria Ibrahim, a legal consultant for the bar, told Bilerico: “We are all human beings. We can choose what we want to do in our lives. Everyone has their own thing. We have that right.
“We serve the public. It doesn’t make a difference who you are or what you do. Everyone is welcome. Why would we turn away customers? We need all our clients to sit in the same atmosphere.
“It was one bad server. I’m Iraqi but that doesn’t mean I’m Saddam Hussein or think like he did. Don’t judge us by one person’s actions.”
Deputy Legal Director Hayley Gorenburg said: “We invited people to tell Bistro 18 the conduct of their employee, detailed in the complaint, violates the law.
“We in no way invited a free-for-all. Often businesses aren’t held accountable for these kinds of incidents, which we know happen every day – just not always captured in writing.
“That’s why there are processes for complaints like this one, to make sure discrimination is addressed. The point is to make sure the community knows their rights to address grievances. Businesses need to know the law.”
