Morning Roundup: Goodbye, Abe Edition
D.C. Police Seek Suspect in Series of Bank Robberies
Suspect in 9-Year-Old's Murder Found Dead in D.C. Jail
Photo of the Day: November 25, 2009
Ballou HS Rocks the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The management of Tastee Diner in Silver Spring has posted some surveillance video to YouTube that shows the affectionate behavior in question in the case of Aiyi'nah Ford and Torian Brown, a local lesbian couple who recently organized a kiss-in protest at the restaurant after they say they were asked to leave because of their sexual orientation.
The video itself is grainy and hard to make out. Here's what the folks at Tastee have to say about its contents:
"We believe inappropriate behavior is what was going on here and that the discrimination allegations are false. In this video, the couple was sitting right inside the restaurant front door pressed up against each other and during their interaction, one was burying her face in the other's breasts. They were asked to tone it down but responded angrily so they were asked to leave. Nothing more - any couple regardless of gender or sexual orienation would have been asked to leave Tastee Diner in the same situation."
After reviewing the video several times, I'm still not buying Tastee's version of the story here. It looks like the two women were holding each other and hugging, one while seated and the other while standing. Yes, that meant that the seated woman had her face against the other's breasts, but try to imagine instead that the couple was heterosexual, and the woman was seated while the man was standing. Would they have been perceived as being "inappropriate" if they had engaged in the exact same behavior? Definitely not. And if the issue here is face-in-breasts, then let's reverse it: a man is seated and embracing a woman who is standing in front of him. He presses his face against her breasts. Is that couple asked to leave, too? I have a hard time believing that they are, unless the woman's breasts are actually exposed, which doesn't appear to have been the case here.
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Motorboat-gate!
My, it's getting hot in here! Mind if I slip this off?
[+3 Plate Armor, +1 Electrum Cainmail, Helm of Summoning, live poultry hit floor]
Uh oh! The noise alerted the troll guard! Someone make a saving roll!
Maybe the manager's eyesight has the same quality as the surveillance video, and he honestly thought that one woman had her face in the other's breasts in an inappropriate fashion. I mean, out of context, you could easily interpret the video that way.
I can't even tell what they're doing. Are they hugging? kissing? Is there motorboat action going on? Though the man looking at the camera and then staring at the couple for over 20 seconds is totally creepy. Maybe they should have asked him to leave.
Uh, yeah if a woman had her head in a man's chest no issue. Her head in his lap, that could be an issue. Similarly if a guy had his face burried in a woman's chest, they said they would ask them to stop as well. I don't understand what the big deal is. I mean serisouly (& i don't get serious often) who thinks it's really appropriate to bury your head in someone's breasts at a restaurant. I mean it's a diner, not Prime Rib, but still. This beahvior would be more acceptable at the Renaissance Fair...meaning no class loserville
Wood
You said "make out" in a story about girl-on-girl action. Wow.
I totally agree if this couple were a man and a woman or a creepy old woman and a dog someone left tied up outside of Whole Foods, there would be no problem.
Easy solution: Don't make out in public. Anybody. Yeah, sure, of course it's your right to do it if you want to. Do your thing. But just because I have the right to wear a swastika armband into the Holocaust Museum doesn't mean I should.
Either way, Sommer is right. This doesn't warrant kicking out somebody from a restaurant.
Agreed! My girlfriend and I limit our PDAs to when we're somewhere on 17th Street, and even then it's just hand-holding or the occasional quick kiss. We realize that a lot of people don't want to see it (and we don't really want to put it on display, either), and that doing so invites a lot of unwanted comments and/or actions from homophobics and other assorted assholes. Even though we SHOULD be able to make out in public with no repercussions, we'd be delusional to believe that's actually the reality.
Not exactly a Wardrobe malfunction moment.
Who was the camera man, Frank Winstead?
If you look closely, you can see that the motorboating in question clearly came from the grassy knoll.
Back...and to the left.
Agreed. In a perfect world gay and straight couples alike would feel free to canoodle anywhere they please if so inclined. Realistically, PDA makes people uncomfortable, and I assume people do it with the full knowledge that they're inviting backlash.
I really just wanted to say canoodle.
You sound like your complacent with that?! I mean jeez, I'm not gonna go sucking my boyfriends face off in public, but limit our contact to hand-holding and a peck on the cheek? Heck no! Being okay with the disparity between gay affection and straight affection isn't going to help bridge the gap...
While I agree that PDA is inapropriate more often than it is appropriate... the management needs to be fair and unbiased. I see a lot of straight couples on the Metro (and many other places, including Tastee DIner) who seriously needed to get a room. But some contact with your loved one should be acceptable and not get you kicked out of a place... MY question: are the Tastee folks requiring an unfair standard with regard to the two women than they are other couples? Making different thresholds of "inappropriate PDA" for gay couples than for straight couples *IS* unfair! I think the employees story and rebuttal is grossly overstated given what little I can see of the incident in the video...
But really, Tastee Diner didn't have THAT great of a menu and quite frankly the place creeped me out... it reminded me of a redneck trucker counter in Oklahoma that I was once dragged too... why would gays want to eat there anyway? I thought we had more class then that... lol
If I recally my '70s porn correctly, this should have resulted in the two women being told to "take it out behind the dumpsters," where they would continue their amorous activies under the gaze of one of the employees jerking off behind a stack of lettuce with saxaphones playing in the background. At some point, the women would invite the guy to join in. I usually end up fast forwarding it at this point.
Unfortunately, this is DC, where you just end up with grainy YouTube video some punny name like "Incident at Taste-titty Diner." I miss the '70s more than I miss my youthful desire to help my fellow man; a desire that's been replaced by one to strangle everyone who looks at me cockeyed and then jerk off behind a stack of lettuce while weeping bitterly.
Bow, chicka, bow-wow
Ah, yes, I believe that film is currently showing on Comcast On-Demand, free movie section of course. But surely it too has a punny name, probably along the lines of "Diner of Desire 7." I believe Part 8 will go into the world of diners being captured as hot, only-slightly-bothered sex slaves who eventually fight back in a steam rebellion.
A couple of lesbians making out is way at the bottom of my list of People Who Should Be Thrown Out of the Tastee Diner:
1. The guy who keeps leaving the bathroom smelling like a pickled egg factory exploded. Most likely, this is also the guy with the REALLY POOR AIM. I blame this on the smoking ban: you USED to be able to practice your aim on cigarette butts in the toilet. Not anymore.
2. The waitress who mistakes sugar for salt in the shakers. I don't expect much from a server beyond functional literacy, not putting your fingers in my coffee, and knowing the difference between Regular and Decaf.
3. The cab driver in the booth behind me who's either exhausted/wasted and insists on singing "Hotel California" offkey and with MISHEARD LYRICS. Please have the decency to LEARN THE F**KING LYRICS. It's "Warm smell of colitas" not "Warm smell of coitus."
4. The mommy who changes her kid's diaper IN THE FRIGGIN BOOTH. WE'RE TRYING TO EAT HERE!
5. Dog Breath.
6. The talentless aspiring rapper/singer who insists on freestylin'/arpeggio-ing about how much they love Jesus (see #3)
7. Attractive lesbians who won't invite me to join in behind the dumpsters.
8. Average-looking lesbians who kinda make-out with eachother.
Making out in public is usually annoying to everyone around except the direct participants, and downright gross if you have to watch it while you're eating.
Or playing Keno. Seriously, you don't know frustration till you miss the winning 28 ball hopping into place because you can't see over Nelle Carter motor boating her girlfriend.
Agreed. PDA is pretty aggravating; no one else really cares how much the participants are into each other, it's just damn annoying to be around. And especially disgusting if the people involved aren't attractive.
Here's an idea. Don't look.
Eureka! I've finally found a way to not be stressed out about shit that doesn't matter!
Much like your comment, it does very little help after the fact.
That doesn't look like anything other than a couple (of indeterminate gender) hugging each other at the counter with person one leaning their forehead on the chest of person two while person two rests their chin on the head of person one. No one else in the place seems even remotely concerned, they don't look over or appear to engage the couple in any way. The only person who reacts is the creepy dude who stands there staring at them before walking off. I don't see anything that suggests they should have been asked to leave.
I agree -- I don't see anything pervy there, and I'm a pervert so if I'm not seeing it, it ain't there.
And I have seen far worse displays of affection at the Bethesda Tastee Diner. Okay, I've participated in them, which is practically the same as seeing, right?
Definitely the same, especially if you have a mirror on the ceiling...
I only hope that such motorboating will be allowed at Capital City Diner once they open.
"I'll take a short stack of pancakes with aside of lovin', please!"
Are there no lesbian bars in Silver Spring? Are these two ladies PDA in shitty diner fetishists?
When I go to a shitty diner, I want fine vinyl upholstery, extra bacon, and 8 different kinds of syrup. Hold the sexy-time.
Admittedly I don't know Maryland that well, but the only lesbian bar I'm aware of in the DMV area is Phase One over in SE, and it caters to a very specific type of lesbian (although, it looks like these two would fit in well there).
Lace in NE DC is a lesbian bar, and a damned nice one. Food's pretty good too!
Umm, there are no bars in Silver Spring - full stop. Let alone lesbian bars.
What about pirate bars?
Oh, I took that into account. And I stand by my claim.
When Piratz Tavern finally perishes, someone could actually put a good bar in that space. The back patio has fantastic beer garden potential.
That's really not the case; Quarry House is a great bar, with a beer list longer (and better) than any place short of the Brickskellar, an outstanding whisky list (including some hard to find ryes). There are plenty of others that aren't compelling enough to drag me out there (I live in the District), but seriously, QH is probably on the merits a better bar (not lounge) than any I've seen in DC proper (and certainly superior to any in Virginia).
Yeah, I was exaggerating of course. The Quarry House is a fine place. Silver Spring has one bar.
I think people are missing the larger picture here- regardless of the "facts" established by this high-quality security camera video, if we DON'T let our lesbians motorboat in the Tastee Diner, doesn't this mean the terrorists have won?
no, it means the lesbians have won. And if they're hot every man has claimed a small victory...wait for it...wait....in his pants!
They should have just stuck to sexting.
do they have health insurance and can they provide a long form birth certificate? otherwise, this case is useless.
try to imagine instead that the couple was heterosexual, and the woman was seated while the man was standing. Would they have been perceived as being "inappropriate" if they had engaged in the exact same behavior?
a) Imagining that would be boring
b) Men don't have breasts
Not that I'm siding w/ the Diner. But, apples/oranges.
Not that it isn't grainy, but I can see seated woman press her face forward below the clavicle of standing woman at least twice. Like qbert said, had it been a standing man that didn't have breasts - is like the worlds suckiest analogy, and the reverse analogy would have been inappropriate.
As the actions of these women was inappropriate, just as they would have been for a same sex couple, I'm not going to waste the energy chastising the establishment's owners. Should the establishment have the same standards for everybody? Yes, but I'm not going to pretend these two were acting appropriately.
That's it! No more groping at the Tastee Diner for anybody.
Twenty seconds?!! Count it out. We're getting perilously close to breastfeeding.
Which somehow brings me to my favorite coffeeshop story. Several yrs ago, NJ Turnpike, waitress asks my friend Gary "Cream in your coffee?" Gary says "Not lately." Hahaha! She threw the cream at him.
People - if we're really going to determine if Tasty treats everyone equally regardless of orientation they need to put up another grainy video of two alleged heteros similarly doing something completely indecipherable. THEN we'd have something to go on.
It's good to see the quality of their security camera vids, though. They'll definitely close the case next time they're robbed.