Streeter: Homophobic Dining Edition

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36 Comments November 8, 2006 at 11:14 am

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Overheard at a King Street eatery, 10:00 PM Tuesday.
Patron*: Excuse me, waitress? Can I please be moved to a different table? I think the two men at the table next to mine are gay.”
Waitress: “And you don’t want to catch it, right?”
Patron: “Well, I’m not worried about that. I’m just concerned about…you know…hearing private conversations.”
Didn’t anyone tell him this was Canada? We let gay people get married here.
*On a side-note, Patron was the holder of a Centurion Card, an American Express credit card for the rich and famous which requires its holder to charge a minimum of US$250,000 annually. Which just goes to show that money can buy you a lot of things, but not tolerance and a little class.
If you hear something that you want to share, send it to streeter@torontoist.com with the details (who/what/when/where), and we might feature it on the site. Happy listening!

Comments

http://brokenengine.blogspot.com brokenengine

Ignorant on the verge of being farsical yes. But intolerant? The way I read it, the person wants to be moved, not because he is afraid of gay people etc, but because he doesn’t want to listen to the kind of conversation that he imagines gay people having. Which is stupid and, again, ignorant, but hardly intolerant.
Marc Lostracco

Mr. Federline, I’m sorry, but your Centurion card was just rejected.
Gloria

I wonder if he would have asked to be moved if it had been two hot lesbian ladies at that table.
http://brokenengine.blogspot.com brokenengine

HAHA nice. And I’ve rethought it, and maybe it is intolerant.
rek

For all we know they were talking about how much they love scat and blood, and Patron didn’t want to hear it. Context matters.
http://brokenengine.blogspot.com brokenengine

Sort of my point above.
Karen

The men beside him were probably gay, but it wasn’t immediately apparent. He jumped to the conclusion that they were gay, and then jumped to the conclusion that they’d be talking about things he found offensive over a quiet dinner.
Maybe that’s not explicitly “intolerant”, but it’s still pretty ridiculous.
Also, he looked like Jeffrey Dahmer and sent back all three of his courses after one bite with no explanation. How’s that for context?
http://www.publicspace.ca/sidewalksale.htm Jonathan

Maybe they were discussing the midterms, and he overheard them talking about Santorum.
http://cork2toronto.eircom.net Mark Dowling

what I want to know is – was he moved to another table or told “sit there and eat your food”.
Marc Lostracco

The gay guys beside my table on Saturday night were talking about how good their little baby daughter was being in such a noisy restaurant and whether or not they should pick-up a movie on the way home.
What does this loser actually think gay people talk about? Eating babies?
Karen

He was moved to another table. At 10:00 PM on a Tuesday, it’s pretty much an empty house. It would be sort of impossible to refuse a table change when every other table in the place was empty.
DRH

I agree with rek, context is crucial.
Gloria

Context does matter, of course. I can totally sympathize if the man heard indicators the conversation might be going somewhere explicit and that kind of general sexual content made him uncomfortable.
But what made him a jerkass was that he had to tie it specifically to his neighbours’ sexual orientation, as if the way they talked was BECAUSE they were gay, not just because they were, say, sexually frank people. “Excuse me, miss, those two men over there are disgusting freaks. I think they’re gay. Can you move me?”
He wouldn’t complain about a man and a woman’s racy dialogue by saying, “Excuse me, miss. I think those two are straight. Can you move me?”
Justin…

thank you Gloria.
I was posting something similar though mine had many insults in it for the damned fools who think “context” excuses intolerance.
“Excuse me but those are black people. Can I be moved?”
Ok rek and DRH – what context excuses that statement?
rek: “They might have guns or otherwise be criminals. Context matters.”
DRH: “I agree with rek, context is crucial.”
Cause we all know only fags are into blood and scat. Christ I feel like I’m in kindergarden.
andrew

yeah, if yr concerned patron was so eager to avoid hearing private conversations why would it matter whether they were gay or not? two completely straight guys having dinner can talk about things that are so disgusting you may want to move, or two lesbians, or a transgendered ftm and an elderly hermaphrodite with mpd. it doesn’t matter; if you are in canada, in toronto, the polite thing to request of your server is “hey, these two can’t seem to pipe down about blood and scat and really i just want to eat dinner. can i move?” or “those two guys just won’t shut up about who’s having sex with who; look, i don’t care but i’d like to have a little peace and quiet for my meal. can i move?”
if the premise for you asking to move is because you don’t want to overhear the private conversation of people that you have gone out of your way to specify you believe are gay, then that’s homophobic and dumb. if you don’t care about who they find sexy but you do object to their conversation, then that’s ok. hey, if you don’t like gay men or lesbians or whatever, but you’re smart enough to keep that to yourself, then go ahead and ask to move. just be tactful. pissing off servers is a bad idea.
maybe that’s why he kept sending the food back.
http://brokenengine.blogspot.com brokenengine

I was going to say, yeah, when me and my bandmates get a couple of drinks in us, I sometimes wonder if the people around us can hear the filth coming out of our mouths. Does that makes us gay?
Dave Rywall

The patron’s a jackass, but who gives a shit what credit card he had? It has nothing to do with wanting to change tables.
Marc Lostracco

The point was that all the money in the world can’t buy class. It’s the same as people who drive Hummers…I’m sure there are really nice people with Centurion cards or Hummers, but it’s too often a good indicator of an increased level of selfish assholism.
Dave Rywall

So, the credit card is produced at the end of the meal and the server says “Ahhhh! THAT explains it. It’s a rich person. That’s why he’s homophobic.” That’s ridiculous.
If he was a regular guy with a President’s Choice mastercard would the poster have said “look at the middle class asshole!”? Uhh, I think not.
Credit card = irrelevant.
The asking to change tables is ridiculous, and in my opinion, that’s the only point that matters.
Chris Dart

I’m sure the gay dudes were just minutes away from saying “Pardon me, waitress? Could we be moved? I think the guy next to us is an asshole.”
http://www.vivalemerde.blogspot.com ekates

karen – the waitress – with the dog named billie in my art class?
Karen

This is not Karen with the dog named Billie, sadly…
a

I wouldn’t be caught dead in a empty eatery
late in the night if I have a centurion card.
at least not without a man servant
http://www.bertarcher.net bert

The Centurion Card detail is what one might call a nice detail. It’s what makes stories good to read. The poster could also have said she was in a public place and one person said to the serving person that two other persons might be gay. The restaurtant is an irrelevant detail, by those same standards. As is the fact that the complainer was male. And yet I hear no complaints about the addition of those.
rek

Justin – How about some meta-context then? My reply came before there was any clarification of the context. That’s why I pointed it out that we didn’t know what the “apparently gay” guys were actually saying. They could have been flirting (making Patron a dick) or they could have been talking in detail about how they love the smell of feces (would you want to hear that at dinner?). Anyone can be into scat and blood, I didn’t say or imply it was just a “gay thing” by any means, but Patron would have been just as justified in asking for a new seat if a straight couple or a hot lesbian couple were talking about it.
I was in no way defending Patron, I was pointing out a void in the anecdote that made it all too easy to paint Patron as a bigot.
Karen

If this puts your mind at rest, Rek, the “possibly gay” guys were speaking quietly in French and not about anything obscene.
Geez, just trust me on this one: the guy was a tool.
Justin…

Then he should have said, “those homos are talking about cock-sucking and I can hear them.”
That would’ve been fine but the fact was that he left it at them being gay – that’s why you shouldn’t be wasting your time defending Mr.Rich-guy.
chris

c’mon people! can’t we all agree that the rich are at least assholes?!?!
to quote a major latter 20th century philosopher: “eat the rich” – Lemmy
rek

Justin – When did I defend Patron? Here’s a hint: Never. Learn to read.
Justin…

“When did I defend Patron?”
In your first post.
That was easy.
Oh and I’d respond to your ‘learn to read’ comment but I’m still reeling from the ‘gay guys’ = ‘potential conversation about scat and blood’ comment.
DRH

You win you win, the guy was an intolerant prick. Now I can only hope you all rise up in anger against intolerance of:
Centurion Card holders;
Jeffrey Dahmer look-a-likes;
restaurant patrons who want to change tables;
rich people;
empty eateries;
kindergarden;
rek;
context;
hot lesbians;
Kevin Federline,;
hummers.
Gloria

DRH, maybe we’d be angrier about those kinds of intolerance if they had historically provoked the kind of terrible violence that homophobia has. You would never even think to compare any of those with, say, anti-Semetism or Islamophobia. Homophobia has. Yes, homophobia comes in varying degrees, but the point is, there are people who feel it so acutely they are compelled to commit acts of violence to express it.
I’m not trying to blow your opinion out of proportion, but I just want to point out very clearly that none of the things you listed have ever driven people to hateful, senseless violence.
(No jokes about that, please.)
neuf

“Also, he looked like Jeffrey Dahmer and sent back all three of his courses after one bite with no explanation. How’s that for context?”
So, judging someone based on their looks is OK, but judging them on their sexual orientation isn’t? Got it.
white russian

“I’m not trying to blow your opinion out of proportion, but I just want to point out very clearly that none of the things you listed have ever driven people to hateful, senseless violence.”
re: rich people… hah, apparently you’ve never heard of the bolshevik revolution.
Karen

“So, judging someone based on their looks is OK, but judging them on their sexual orientation isn’t? Got it.”
I meant the eyes….the crazy serial killer eyes! Only a Dahmeresque villain such as this one could have a stare so vacant and cold!
DRH

Add to the list:
People with mental health issues.

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