Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores, an American chain restaurant based in Lebanon, Tennessee, has come under criticism from conservatives after sharing a Facebook post celebrating Pride Month.
The restaurant, which is known for its menu of traditional southern foods and its country-style decor, with the interior resembling an old-fashioned general store, surprised many of its conservative fans by supporting the LGBTQ community.
In their post, the restaurant chain said they are “excited to celebrate Pride Month with our employees and guests,” and invited customers to enjoy their limited-edition rainbow-colored rockers, adding: “Everyone is always welcome at our table.”
Many staunch conservatives on Facebook and Twitter responded to the message of acceptance with anger and hate.
Texas Family Project, an anti-LGBTQ group tweeted that “Cracker Barrel has fallen. A once family-friendly establishment has caved to the mob.” The phrase “Cracker Barrel has fallen” went viral on the social media platform shortly afterwards.
We take no pleasure in reporting that @CrackerBarrel has fallen.
— Texas Family Project (@FamilyProjectTX) June 8, 2023
“Cracker Barrel, why do you hate your patrons? How did you come to despise your consumer base?” another Twitter user replied. “You have lost your mind if you think the thousands of people who drive out of their way to eat your middling food want this. Never again. No more bus loads for you.”
Cracker Barrel, why do you hate your patrons? How did you come to despise your consumer base? You have lost your mind if you think the thousands of people who drive out of their way to eat your middling food want this.
— Shelby Foote Appreciator⚓️ (@NoJesuitTricks) June 9, 2023
But many of the negative responses to the restaurant’s inclusivity were met with support from other Twitter users, proud of the company’s willingness to be accepting.
“Honestly, if your bigoted movement can’t even win over the f*****g Cracker Barrel it’s probably time to pack up and go home,” Twitter user Ari Drennen replied.
The post in support of Pride Month marks a departure from Cracker Barrel’s early history, when the company issued an internal memo calling for employees to be dismissed if they did not display “normal heterosexual values,” which allegedly led to the firing of at least 11 gay employees at various stores throughout the South.
For 10 years, starting in 1992, the company’s shareholders repeatedly voted down efforts to add sexual orientation to the company’s nondiscrimination policy. The restaurant chain was also criticized by LGBTQ groups for lacking inclusive health and partner benefits throughout much of the first two decades of the 21st century.
In 2019, after adopting many policy changes, the company earned an “80” on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, which serves as a benchmarking tool on corporations’ pro-LGBTQ policies, practices, and benefits. It has continued to boast a score of 80 in subsequent years, including on the most recent index.
This show of support also potentially comes with risk to the company, as other major corporations like Budweiser and Target have experienced financial backlash and calls for boycotts after embracing the LGBTQ community in different ways. In Bud Light’s case, a partnership with a transgender TikTok influencer for a social media post was the incendiary event, while Target was forced to remove some of its Pride-themed merchandise from store shelves after employees were accosted or threatened with violence by anti-LGBTQ protesters.
The owner of a popular gay bar in the Russian city of Orenburg was arrested for "extremism" last week, just a few weeks after the club's art director and manager were arrested on similar charges.
Vyacheslav Khasanov, the owner of the LGBTQ nightclub Pose, was detained at the Moscow airport on March 29 and taken into custody, accused of "organizing the work of an extremist cell," according to Mediazona.
The club, which opened in 2021, regularly hosted drag parties. After the adoption of Russia's expanded law barring "LGBT propaganda," it marketed itself as a "bar-theater of parodies" and "a night bar with a show program."
New York City gay real estate developer Ian Reisner has signed a lease to take over the former Playboy Club space and the adjacent Cachet Boutique Hotel NYC with the intent of transforming it into a gay-friendly hotel, restaurant, and nightclub.
Reisner told The New York Post that he is in talks with a European boutique hotel operator to open the space in September.
Until then, the yet-to-be-named hotel will operate as an Airbnb, with rentals potentially starting as soon as this month.
Located at 510 W. 42nd Street, the renovated Cachet Boutique Hotel space, which shuttered last October, will feature a 103-room hotel and a 7,500-square-foot restaurant and common area that will be open for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late-night dining.
One Million Moms is accusing the Hilton hotel chain of attempting to "glamorize sin" for portraying people wearing gender-nonconforming attire and including a shot of a same-sex couple in one of its advertisements.
The commercial features hotel heiress Paris Hilton walking through a Hilton hotel lobby wearing a pink dress and carrying her dog.
Throughout the lobby, everyone -- men and women, including several celebrities and influencers -- are dressed in pink and have blond hair or wigs, repeating some of Paris's trademark catchphrases as they snap selfies, scroll social media, and preen in mirrors -- actions that are "on brand" with the heiress's public persona.
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