Friday, August 29, 2008
Gay couple claims restaurant ousted them for public display of affection
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Jimmy Medina and Mike Hazlewood say a manager at Javier’s asked them to leave after Medina sat in Hazlewood’s lap.
Javier’s Gourmet Mexicano restaurant in Uptown is denying allegations that the manager asked a couple to leave because they are gay.
But Jimmy Medina and his partner Mike Hazlewood say they were the targets of anti-gay discrimination on the part of the restaurant management.
Some of the details are undisputed: Medina and Hazlewood were attending a birthday party at Javier’s on Saturday night, Aug. 23. The couple had four rounds of drinks at the bar while waiting for a table. They then stepped out of the main room and into a side hallway to use the restroom. When Medina came out of the restroom, his partner was sitting at small table in the hallway talking on the phone to a friend, and Medina sat down on his Hazlewood’s knee.
The story becomes fuzzy after that.
The couple says that a manager came to them and said, “You all are going to have to leave because that’s inappropriate.”
“At first I thought he was joking,” Medina said. “It took me a while to figure out he was serious.”
Jimmy Medina and his partner Mike Hazlewood at Javier’s earlier that night.
Javier’s manager, Pepe Johnson, said he had customers ask him what kind of place he was running and complain that the two were caressing each other in the hallway. But Medina and Hazlewood say that isn’t true.
“Jimmy and I have been together for a long time,” Hazlewood said. “Hell, we don’t make out at home, much less in public. I was born and raised in Dallas, I know what I’m surrounded by.”
Johnson says they were not kicked out because Medina was sitting on Hazlewood’s lap, but because of the way they reacted when Medina was asked to move to the empty chair next to Hazelwood.
Johnson says the two not only refused his request but also became belligerent about it afterward.
“They started cussing and telling people they were being kicked out for being gay,” he said. “But there are certain behaviors that affect your business that you have to call attention to.”
Johnson went on to say “I didn’t even know they were gay. It’s just not proper.”
He also said if it had been a guy and a girl, he would have done the same thing. In fact, he says, they have had similar instances before with straight couples.
Peje Johnson
But Medina and Hazle wood disagree.
“This was absolutely a gay issue,” Hazlewood said. “He pointed right at us and said, ‘This is inappropriate.’ I can guarantee you that if it had been a man and a women, or even two girls, he would not have said a thing.”
Hazlewood went on to say that no one said anything different when he informed others in his party that they were being kicked out because they were gay.
“It’s just really shocking to me to say the least. We didn’t do anything wrong,” Medina said. “I was touching him. I wasn’t kissing on him ... I was sitting on his lap.”
The two are asking for an apology and for other LGBT community members to stay away from Javier’s.
“I think somehow they need to understand that there is a lot of gay couples that come there and spend a lot of money that may not come there again unless we are treated better,” Hazlewood said.
But Johnson isn’t worried.
“We have a lot of gay customers,” Johnson said. “We don’t go kicking people out.”
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Comments
Pavel Lishin Verified
Clearly the only way to settle this is to have a straight couple go into the restaurant and repeat the performance, and see if they get asked to leave, too.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Collin Gouldin Verified
I elect pavel and momzilla ...
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
snowboard9 Anonymous
It's really hard to conclude what happened here but I'll err on the side of never going to this place (not that I would of anyway).
This is only because I've seen many 'explicit' heterosexual PDA (public display of affection) in many restaurants that nobody seems to mind - at least to the point of alerting management.
I can see a likely scenario (given the birthday party atmosphere) where some customer becomes offended to be within 100 yards of this. I mean, we ARE in Texas.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Does the gay card have more clout than the race card these days?
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Seanchai520 Anonymous
OK, so Johnson claims that “customers ask him what kind of place he was running and complain that the two [guys] were caressing each other in the hallway.” Then, Johnson (fitting name) states that “I didn’t even know they were gay.” Does he get a lot of heterosexuals caressing each other in the hallway of his establishment?
I’ll agree that PDA can be nauseating, but throwing people out of a restaurant because they are enjoying a night out with their loved one is a bit overboard. If PDA will get you thrown out of an establishment, there will no longer be ANY teenagers in ANY mall in the country!! That manager really is a Johnson.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DC Anonymous
I'm sure one of the Javier's faithful will get all worked up about it, but I still don't see the point in spending over 3 dollars on burritos. Cesar's (not Chavez yet) Tacos FOR THE WIN!!
Whatever, this could alternatively read: guys get drunk, one can't stand up, restaurant manager says "HEY, QUIT BLOCKING THE ROAD TO THE DAMN CAN" and beligerence ensues.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
SonyaBlade Anonymous
100% apple juice
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
ch0 Anonymous
Jimmy Medina and Mike Hazlewood are GAY
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DC Anonymous
That's ouSted.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
bobdon000 Anonymous
Private business should have the right to enforce the type of behavior they want/don't want in their establishments.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
luniz Anonymous
a better experiment would be to have two women make out in my apartment and see if i kick them out.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DC Anonymous
PL and SD will see if they can find you some unicorns and pretty non-threatening lesbians willing to fondle each other for your amusement.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
If I had unicorns and pretty, non-threatening lesbians willing to fondle each other, do you think I'd spend my day posting on Pegasus News?
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Lisa Lawrence Merritt Verified
Hmmmm, I haven't been thrown out of Javire's yet.
;)
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Pretty sure I'd slap a magnum (protect yo'self, kids) on the unicorn's horn and test their lesbian waters. In every sense.
3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
jtmbls Anonymous
Interesting that he singled out the unicorn first, just sayin...;-)
3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
momzilla Anonymous
I suppose that my husband and I could go test their reaction to gray pda.
But is the food worth a trip to Dallas from Meadowbrook? If not, nevermind.
3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Thought it was implied that I'm the unicorn.
I...am the unicorn.
3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
madkid5 Anonymous
The reporter got our story ALL wrong! I was sitting on Mikes knee. We were asked to leave. I was NOT "caressing" him, I was NOT touching him, I was NEVER asked to move to a chair, I did NOT get "belligerent". There was an off duty police officer in the restaurant and within earshot of me the whole time, if I had been belligerent I'm sure I would have been in jail. The police officer shook Mikes hand on the way out the door and said, "Thanks for not making a scene." We told the reporter all of this and it was left out.
3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Erin Rice Staff
madkid5, it looks like the parts of the story you are refuting are what the manager Pepe Johnson said. It sounds like Ben Briscoe was trying to get both sides of the story, but it seemed pretty clear which parts came from the manager and which parts came from you and Mike.
Aside from the exchange with the off-duty police officer, was there something else in the article you think was erroneous or left out?
3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
madkid5 Anonymous
that's it. anyone who knows me knows that if I had been belligerent I would have been in jail. Mike knew this, reeled me in and I went outside. I really cant believe that the officer was not even mentioned. I didn't even know he was involved until Mike told me after the fact.
3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Wait, you had to be 'reeled in' but you weren't belligerent?
And why would you talk to the press if you had no interest in making a big deal about this?
3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
chrisdanger Anonymous
Ya know, maybe im old fashion,but im not a big fan of massive PDA, be it gay or straight. Its disrespectful to everyone around you and makes said parties look trashy.
3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
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