Brighton TRAs bullying female small business owner

[SapphosRock]

Urgh. This is happening in my home town and it’s shit.

Happy Maki is a small, vegan cafe and takeaway. It’s a very ethical business. All about sustainability and green energy. They plant a tree and feed a child for each wrap made. It’s a gift economy and the food is free with a suggested donation. All very hippy. You get the idea.

A FTM trans person approached the female owner of Happy Maki and asked for support in fundraising for their top surgery. I believe they wanted a poster in the window asking for money. The owner refused. When pressed the owner said it was against her religious beliefs - she is a follower of the Divine Truth which admittedly sounds a bit ‘out there’ but not entirely unexpected given the nature of her business.

Anyway the TRAs have really gone to town and are posting in every Brighton based Facebook group, Instagram and Twitter accusing the owner of Transphobia and calling for her to apologise:

twitter.com/makiunhappy/status/1314261939833446400?s=21

They seem to be getting a lot of support and gaining a lot of traction too with many saying they are now going to boycott the business.

I’m upset about this for a lot of reasons. Obviously the female owner being bullied and harassed in this way and them encouraging people to email her. The lovely takeaway losing business. It’s also pretty tone deaf to attack the hospitality sector in the midst of a global pandemic for not supporting one individual’s elective, life changing surgery.

Anyway, the reason I’m posting here is in solidarity with the owner Anna. And if any of you lovely lot are nearby then consider getting a Happy Maki takeaway. The food is delicious and I’m sure they could do with some support right now.

www.happymaki.co.uk

@jj1968

Thoughts experiment, let's remove the trans and change it just a bit.

10 cafe workers have quit their job after claiming gay workers were forced to endure homophobic comments by the business owner. The workers also claimed many had not been given proper contracts and that there had been problems accessing sick pay and holiday pay to which they were due. The former staff claimed when they tried to problems with their employer they were accused of being aggresive. In a lengthy blogpost the business owner denies any wrongdoing and stood by her comments about lesbian and gay people saying they reflected her religious beliefs.

Whose side are you on now she's not a transphobe?

You can make up any scenarios you like, but the woman made absolutely no homophobic or transphobic comments. She’s entitled to her religious beliefs. The rest of her staff don’t have issues with her, so why do you automatically believe those that have stropped off and are helping abuse her? Do you always take the side of an abuser, if the victim is a woman?

Or the actual scenario that happened, removing all reference to trans:

10 cafe workers quit their job making a big hooha about the owner not putting up a poster, and make social media accounts to encourage others to harass the cafe owner and demand an "apology."

On the harassment account they also claim the cafe owner had them on zero-hours contracts and said biphobic things, but the harassment campaign goes into no actual detail about the contract problems and the cafe owner denies saying anything biphobic. The workers helpfully include details even in their own account of the matter that suggests they behaved highly aggressively to the cafe owner.

yes, they're still horrific bullies and generally awful human beings, trans or no trans.

Have we changed the scenario in any way whatsoever?

Is it still a case of someone asked her to put up a poster, was told no, asked why and got their damn question answered?

JJ I think you're more than old enough to know that some people do have homophobic beliefs and they have the right to hold them, as I have the right to hold beliefs that homophobic people find disgusting.

As referred to earlier, business owners are obliged to sell wedding cakes to gay couples but they are not obliged to put messages endorsing gay marriage on the cakes.

@jj1968

Thoughts experiment, let's remove the trans and change it just a bit.

10 cafe workers have quit their job after claiming gay workers were forced to endure homophobic comments by the business owner. The workers also claimed many had not been given proper contracts and that there had been problems accessing sick pay and holiday pay to which they were due. The former staff claimed when they tried to problems with their employer they were accused of being aggresive. In a lengthy blogpost the business owner denies any wrongdoing and stood by her comments about lesbian and gay people saying they reflected her religious beliefs.

Whose side are you on now she's not a transphobe?

That's a daft thought experiment because it's completely irrelevant to what happened.

Seven Happy Maki employees apparently quit because they did not like the content of this email that was sent to someone not employed by Happy Maki eight months previously.

Hey Henry, 

Lovely to hear from you, we love having you guys as neighbours and I'm glad you get on well with the team they are a great bunch. 

I'm afraid I can't help you out with this fundraising as its not in line with my beliefs/ what I feel would help people the most who are in your position. Just to be clear this is by no means suggesting that what you're feeling and going through doesn't feel real and isn't very challenging, I have a lot of compassion for anyone who finds themselves feeling not right in their own skin/ bodies. From the research I have done, I believe that gender dysphoria is due to spirits and spirit over-cloaking. I didn't believe in spirits until recently so I get that it's probably a bit out there, but I have been shocked and a bit scared about what I have read and how easy it is for them to control and manipulate people's thoughts and feelings. 

If you want a bit more of an explanation, I'm happy to chat further about why I've come to this personal conclusion and what my sources of research have been. I also understand that this is probably a confronting view point on what is a sensitive and very personal topic, but I wanted to be transparent and honest with you regardless, as I feel this is always the most respectful and beneficial way to be. 

I really wish you the best and hope that we'll meet soon so I can put a name to a face.

Warm wishes, 

Anna.

@HartnellAvenue

This. This right here is why MN is accused of being transphobic. You brush off her absolute batshit crazy cultish "religion" which was only started in 2007 by saying "it's a bit out there" and you think that her acting directly discriminating on the grounds of someone's gender identity is OK. Because its a transman who wanted to put the poster up in a cafe window in the most LGBTQ friendly city in Britain asking for support from random people for top surgery.

The cafe owner didn't say "no because I don't allow posters". Unbelievable the things some posters here will shrug off. Oh and when I was on twitter I would have been called a terf so I don't subscribe to the TWAW mantra and I do believe in sex based rights... but you and she are in the wrong here.

So you think that even though it goes against her beliefs she should still put up a begging letter? Do you also think a Jewish butcher should sell pork? She isn’t discriminating as she would take the same action with anyone, regardless of their lifestyle.

"Let's change it up a bit. Suppose she'd killed everyone who works there with an axe and then pissed on their graves? You don't like her much now do you you transphobic bitches?"

I mean, it's not word for word but I think it accurately reflects the spirit in which jj is posting.

Jesus. Has this really reached the point where people are saying "give us your money or we'll ruin your business"?

Is it still a case of someone asked her to put up a poster, was told no, asked why and got their damn question answered?

Yes. And as has been explained over and over again (though some people still aren't getting it), putting a poster up as a favour, or declining to do so, is in no way analogous to actually providing the service the cafe is in business to provide, namely serving people food.

As referred to earlier, business owners are obliged to sell wedding cakes to gay couples but they are not obliged to put messages endorsing gay marriage on the cakes.

Again yes. The putting up of a poster wasn't a service in any case, but even if (for instance) the cafe owner had had a paid-for "for sale" board (the way corner shops often used to when I was a kid), the owner still wouldn't have been obliged to post a message of this sort. (People impose all sorts of terms and conditions on taking advertising in magazines, or the sort of goods and services that can legitimately be advertised on online boards, for instance).

@msflibble

Jesus. Has this really reached the point where people are saying "give us your money or we'll ruin your business"?

Yes.

It's such a nice email actually. Obviously a bit crazy but fundamentally really nice to this person she had clearly never met. No wonder you want her destroyed jj .

@Butterer

With your thought experiment, is it relevant that the cafe workers are gay? I don't recall anything saying the staff at the cafe are trans.

I was actually higlighting her biphobia, but I changed it to gay because obviously no-one here thinks bisexual people being insulted in the workplace is a problem.

According to the workers she also claimed that bisexuality was a result of unresolved trauma. That is not appropriate for an employer, I'm astonished anyone thinks it is. I guess not many of you have any experiences of putting up with the rants of an offensive bigoted boss and not feeling like you can say anything because you might get sacked. It must be even hader on a zero hours contract when they can use shift patterns to wield power over you as well.

@msflibble

Jesus. Has this really reached the point where people are saying "give us your money or we'll ruin your business"?

If we don't ruin your business we'll doxx you, trash your reputation online, threaten you with rape and death threats and then burn you at the stake - you witch.

What was that wonderful t shirt that JKR celebrated? This witch is not for burning

Time I ordered myself one. I might even send one to the owner of a certain vegan cafe in Brighton .

I guess not many of you have any experiences of putting up with the rants of an offensive bigoted boss

Jesus H Christ. I'm bisexual and even if my boss had said word for word what the spoilt brats claimed (which I do not believe for a second) I wouldn't give a flying far. Some of us have experienced actual PROBLEMS. And I would say almost anyone who's ever had a job has experienced worse from their boss than chat of a kooky belief system.

@EvenSupposing

It's such a nice email actually. Obviously a bit crazy but fundamentally really nice to this person she had clearly never met. No wonder you want her destroyed jj .

Let me guess your not trans and you're not LGB. So I can understand why you'd think an email that said your gender or sexuality was down to you being controlled by malicious spirits was 'nice'. LGBT people have been putting up with that kind of thing for long enough.

And there were clearly other serious issues besides the letter. I get the sense that that was just the final straw.

Missing t up there which I feel the need to replace. I wouldn't give a flying fart.

@EvenSupposing

"Let's change it up a bit. Suppose she'd killed everyone who works there with an axe and then pissed on their graves? You don't like her much now do you you transphobic bitches?"

I mean, it's not word for word but I think it accurately reflects the spirit in which jj is posting.

That is spot on 😳

I thought it was jj actually posting!

@nauticant

She might be involved in a very peculiar religion but supporting someone having a double mastectomy of healthy breasts is way way out there for most rational people.

this

That anna lady sounds really lovely (if not a little out of touch)

I do love a good vegan cafe, i was most disappointed when we went to Brighton in August and one of our Favourite veggie places was shut

Many of us are lesbians on here and have navigated ourselves through the workplace and the world for many years. What we don't do is engage in spurious and gleeful attempts to bully other women for spurious allegations of wrong think.

[quote jj1968]@Butterer

With your thought experiment, is it relevant that the cafe workers are gay? I don't recall anything saying the staff at the cafe are trans.

I was actually higlighting her biphobia, but I changed it to gay because obviously no-one here thinks bisexual people being insulted in the workplace is a problem.

According to the workers she also claimed that bisexuality was a result of unresolved trauma. That is not appropriate for an employer, I'm astonished anyone thinks it is. I guess not many of you have any experiences of putting up with the rants of an offensive bigoted boss and not feeling like you can say anything because you might get sacked. It must be even hader on a zero hours contract when they can use shift patterns to wield power over you as well.[/quote]
The workers should stick to their grievances then, as I have a LOT more concern about people being harassed or treated badly in the workplace for their sexuality, than someone refusing to support an optional surgery.

I guess not many of you have any experiences of putting up with the rants of an offensive bigoted boss and not feeling like you can say anything because you might get sacked.

We’re women, so we’ve spent all our lives listening to misogynistic men and being dismissed or feeling like we can say nothing because we’re afraid of being sacked, so we’re well placed to judge if someone is being a bigot. Guess what? She.isn’t.one!

The final straw? It was sent in February iirc!

You're just making shit up now - the rants, the terrified staff cowering in fear of her wielding the power of the shift pattern at them

Ooops - too many spuriouses Replace one with vicious / false or fake