Transgender Activists Denied Service At Nashville IHOP, Company Apologizes

A group of transgender activists claimed Monday they were refused service at an IHOP restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee. The activists were reportedly laughed at and the employees whispered about them the entire time they were in the restaurant.

The group was in town for a collaborative gathering of LGBTQ advocacy leaders in the south of the United States.

Emmett Schelling, executive director of the Transgender Education Network of Texas, said seven activists including him who hadn’t left the town after the meeting reached the IHOP on Elliston Place around 11 a.m. local time (12 p.m. EDT) on Monday.

"We came in and immediately, the server looked at one of my colleagues who has a service dog and said, flat out, 'I won't be serving you,'" he said in an interview, the Tennessean reported. "We sort of took it like she didn’t want to serve us, but somebody else would come and take care of us.”

The group waited for 25 minutes hoping for somebody to serve them but all the other customers who were arriving at the restaurant during that time were helped except them.

Schelling said one of the activists walked up to a woman working at the cash register to ask her if somebody would take their order. She refused to acknowledge them and instead looked at the other employees and started laughing.

"Other patrons were starting to notice and starting to stare at us, along with the employees who seemed to be getting some sort of amusement out of not coming to serve us," he said.

Schelling said the group had initially thought they were denied service because one of them had a service dog; however, it became apparent soon it was more than that. The group left after waiting for 30 to 45 minutes.

He wrote a post of Facebook immediately after the incident asking his friends to reach out to IHOP to protest their treatment. The post has since been deleted.

"We wasted a total of about 30-45 minutes waiting for a staff to come help us that obviously had no intention of doing that due to their obvious personal bias against who we are. How incredibly frustrating, sad, and maddening,” he said.

IHOP responded to the incident saying the franchise will use this opportunity to coach the entire restaurant.

Stephanie Peterson, IHOP public relations said, "In listening to the guests who contacted the restaurant directly, the franchisee understands the group felt overlooked due to having a service animal with them,” reported Dallas News.

"The brand and our operators are committed to inclusion and making all guests feel welcome. The franchisee is in the process of reaching out to the guests to apologize for the disappointing service they received today,” he added.

Schelling said in a statement he was "encouraged by IHOP’s response to it."