Find any gay or lesbian person who waited tables, especially in the 80's and 90's, and I doubt you'll find only a few who never had an experience like this. Employers did nothing. Communities didn't blink. While it certainly has happened to other groups in the past was well, we got it quite a bit.
Now, this behavior is becoming "normalized" and "acceptable" against all types of people. For every fake story, there is a real one. For every real story, there are hundreds of untold real ones.
POC, the GLBT, and likely other groups are going to see an increase in this type of behavior, but the only stories which will really get attention will be the ones which are false (or not quite what they seem), and that is the fault of the media! If these stories come out, and are verified as authentic, it needs to be splashed all over the headlines of major newspapers. Bigotry takes hold in the smallest of places with those deemed "unimportant", but it grows from there, like the virus it is. Treating wait staff and salespeople as trash has been commonplace for awhile, but this version, the bigoted one, was generally considered taboo. Once that taboo falls, the incidents will only get larger and larger, and become more and more acceptable.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ― Edmund Burke.
If you see something, say something, because one day, it may be YOU!
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