Young Chicago couple kicked out of restaurant for hugging
Kendall Anderson and Peder Sevig were asked to leave a Chicago restaurant after they hugged each other. (CBS Chicago/YouTube)
A young gay couple were told to leave after they hugged one another while at a restaurant in Chicago.
Kendall Anderson and his boyfriend, Peder Sevig, were with a group of friends at the Big Boy Gyros restaurant in Chicago when a man came up to them and told them off for hugging.
Anderson told CBS Chicago that the man, who they believed to be an employee at the family-run restaurant, said: “We can’t have two guys hugging in here.”
The man then told the students “we don’t want your kind here, anyway” as they were leaving.
The couple, who both attend Lane Tech High School across the road from the restaurant, told CBS Chicago: “He said something to the effect of if it was a guy and a girl it would be okay, but we can’t allow two boys.”
The man who the students said was involved told CBS reporters that he was just a customer and staff did not respond to requests to comment.
School said it was ‘disheartened’ that two of their students had been “made to feel unwelcome”
An email sent by the school to parents and students said the incident would be “addressed in person by Lane Tech’s administration.”
“As a school, we are disheartened because our students were treated with disrespect and made to feel unwelcome. As a community, we stand strong and we want to make it clear that Lane Tech does not stand for discrimination of any kind,” the letter said.
“We will not tolerate hatred and will not support an organization that promotes hatred of any kind. We support any students, staff and community members that choose to not support Big Boy Gyros.”
The pupils’ school said it supported anyone who chose to boycott the restaurant. (Lane Tech College Prep High School/lanetech.org)
“Lane is such an accepting and welcoming environment,” said Julie Mahr, a sophomore at the school and friend of both Anderson and Sevig.
Speaking to Block Club Chicago, Mahr said: “I don’t want to be giving my money and my attention to a business that participates in that kind of behavior. I have many friends and acquaintances who have told me they won’t be eating at Big Boy’s anymore.”
Mahr added that the pair were still upset following the interaction at the restaurant.
“They’re still hurt and shocked. It’s a very hard thing, especially since one of them only recently came out, to have to face something for the first time,” she said.
