I think those of you complaining about the lesbian are missing the point and you are ignoring the comments she made later about being happy for two people who found each other. I certainly didn't get a sense that she would object to cooking for or catering such an event. My understanding was that what she was complaining about was that the SHOW was highlighting it when not everybody has the same rights. That said, she made a bigger deal of it than necessary.

I didn't interpret her beef in that way. She did cook for them. And she most likely would cook for them if it was her restaurant as well.

The beef, it seemed to me, was with Bravo who *chose* these challenges. This isn't someone walking into the restaurant looking for service. This is Bravo sitting around a boardroom table trying to come up with challenges. And if Bravo is supposedly liberal, then it is a little surprising that they would have an essentialist challenge like this.

I think her response was a little bit overblown, however (although, in truth, this probably had to do with the editing of the show).

Wow. Same exact thought posted almost simultaneously. Scary. ;)

I thought the comments were just out of place and a little strange. Me personally, I could care less if a chef is straight, gay, transgender, etc. I just want to know that they can cook, especially in the context of the show. If the show was Top Gay Chef then maybe her comments would be relevant. It seems that Bravo needed to fill a minute or two and found her comments to be enough "controversy" to fill them.

Are you gay?

No, but I don't care if someone is gay or straight to interact with them. They're a person and that's it.

I am saying from a straight person's point of view, I do not see where the comments come into play for the show's eventual outcome. They have no bearing on whether she can cook or not and are not relevant to her winning the challenge.

Sure, it's her prerogative to bring it up and that's fine, I just didn't see the point. Was she thinking about refusing to cook for them?

I don't think she was refusing to cook for them. She was expressing her disappointment in a tv network that is supposedly pretty liberal to have an essentialist/traditional marriage task. Of all the challenges Bravo could cook up (pun not intended), this is the one they choose? If I was gay and excluded from a social institution such as marriage, I would probably be a little miffed as well. I would expect such an insensitivity on Fox, but Bravo?

Again, I think the emotions expressed were more about disappointment in the creators of the program than an attitude about not wanting to participate.

And next week they're cooking for a bunch of servicemen. Will we hear someone complain about how they're a pacifist and why is Bravo making them cook for these people?? Like I said, get a life.

I don't really see the same as similar in kind, but your point is taken.

Again, I'm not really trying to defend the comments so much as try to explain what I think the genesis of them is. I believe she was misconstrued.

I wonder what the reaction would have been had self-announced active hetero made a similar comment about cooking for a reception after a gay or lesbian wedding (in a state where same sex marriages are legal)?

After all, when will the inevitable occur on "Top Chef", a request for the chefs to bake a bit of Bud in the Brownies? I guess they'll have to fly to Schipol to film that episdode.

Surely there would be a difference in reaction.

And shouldn't there be? Isn't there a bit of a difference between a minority member speaking out against the tyranny of the majority versus a majority member speaking out of against the minority?

Wrong on all counts. I am not missing the point at all. Some of the posts following yours aptly reflect my point of view on this.

What a shock! ;)

Shocking that we're right and you're wrong? Nah, that's obvious. :p

"Tyranny of the majority?" Are you kidding me? :rolleyes:

I know this is turning into an OMNI/PR thread so I'll stop now. :D

Yes, you're right. Thanks for setting me straight. :rolleyes: