Missouri gay
group to protest IHOP

After four lesbians were asked to leave an International House of Pancakes in Grandview, Mo., a group is organizing a demonstration against the chain restaurant.

Promo, the Missouri LGBT equality organization, is coordinating a demonstration to take place Friday at 5:30 p.m. Protesters plan to arrive with brooms at the restaurant to "clean up the corporate brush-off," a statement read.

"This is a clear act of discrimination, even if IHOP does not understand that it is," the Promo regional field organizer said in the press release. "The couple of pecks that caused these individuals to be asked to leave would not have been considered inappropriate if the couples were heterosexual."

The four women--Toni and Jackie Smith, Blair Funk, and Eva Sandoval--were sharing a booth at the restaurant. There, Funk and Sandoval shared a short kiss, which attracted the manager's attention.

Funk told Kansas City Star columnist Mike Hendricks that the manager said to the four women, "I have to tell you, we've had some complaints about public displays of affection, and we're a family restaurant. We can't accept it, and we won't accept it."

While the state of Missouri does not have a law protecting the rights of gays, Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbia, and University City have policies that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Marcia Nieto, guest services representative for IHOP, issued an apology, which was obtained by Queerty.com. In it Nieto stresses that the women were not asked to leave but "were asked to refrain from bold displays of public affection as guests had found it offensive." (The Advocate)