Two male high school students — and boyfriends — said a man kicked them out of a restaurant in Chicago for hugging.
Kendall Anderson and Peder Sevig, who attend Lane Tech High School, told CBS 2 they are still ‘rattled’ by what happened on Monday (13 May).
They told the local news station they went to Big Boy Gyros after school with some friends. The restaurant is a local eatery across the street from their school.
While inside, Anderson said he hugged Sevig when an employee saw the moment of affection and said: ‘We can’t have two guys hugging in here.’
The exchange didn’t stop there, however, as Anderson said the employee continued talking.
‘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.’
Anderson, Sevig, and their friends did decide to leave the restaurant, but not before the employee spoke out again. As the teens left, he allegedly called out to them: ‘Get out. We don’t want your kind here, anyway.’
When CBS 2’s Dana Kozlov went to the restaurant about the incident, the man who made the alleged comments said he was ‘just a customer’.
No one else at the restaurant spoke to her.
According to CBS’ reporting, Lane Tech, upon hearing about the incident, sent an email out to students, teachers, and parents.
‘We want to make it clear that Lane Tech does not stand for discrimination of any kind … This incident will be addressed in person by Lane Tech’s administration,’ they wrote.
One student, Jolie Mahr, said in response to the email that it was ‘very important’ her school ‘respects and values’ students.
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