Christian man protests restaurant that refused him entry because he was wearing a cross necklace
An Indiana man is fighting back after a restaurant barred him from entering on account of the cross necklace he was wearing. The restaurant, Kilroy’s Bar N’ Grill in Indianapolis, has a stated dress code policy that prohibits large chains worn outside shirts, among other apparel.
“They said, ‘Well you got to remove your necklace’ … because they said it’s a large necklace,” Jerry Bond told local news affiliate WXIN of the May 19 incident. “‘We’re going to ask you to either tuck your necklace, remove it, or you have to leave.’”
Bond, who was joined by his minister, refused to remove or hide the necklace because it symbolizes his Christian faith.
“I’m not going to tuck my cross in because of my belief,” Bond explained. “I believe in wearing this cross and what it represents.”
His minister, David Latimore, lobbied for Bond to be let in, insisting that other patrons were wearing even larger necklaces.
“I asked [the manager], ‘What is a large necklace? What does that mean? What size is large?’ He couldn’t tell me,” Latimore told WXIN. He said his attempts to discuss the issue with the owners of Kilroy’s went unanswered.
“If you have business in this city, you should treat your customers a certain way, and for us to turn a blind eye to it and continue to treat customers this way, it’s just not right,” he added. “It’s something I won’t stand for.”
Bond wore his cross necklace when he and others returned to Kilroy’s on June 9 to protest the restaurant’s policy.
So @KilroysRipple is being protested against because they supposedly discriminated against an African American man wearing a cross. I think it’s deeper than that. Y’all turning people away because of his beliefs? Seems kind of hypocritical. pic.twitter.com/bmR7Bynpwz
— Ian James (@AScottEra) June 10, 2018
Latimore, meanwhile, has been speaking out about the incident in a series of videos posted to Facebook.
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Nursing student says she had to leave school over ‘racially biased’ hair policy
Female student suspended after protesting dress code crackdown on bra straps
An 8th-grader is suing his school district over its dress code ban on pro-gun shirts
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