Why Sarah Sanders shouldn’t have been kicked out of that restaurant

Over the years, but especially in 2008, the year of hateful Proposition 8, I wrote regularly about LGBT rights. I cheered the California Supreme Court decision that opened the door to same-sex marriage.

Should I ever decide to stop by a Chick-Fil-A, a chain whose owner has publicly opposed same-sex marriage, it would be monstrous for me to be told that I wouldn’t be served based on my heated defenses of marriage equality.

That’s why I find myself in the strange position of standing up for Sarah Huckabee Sanders, despite her limp attempts as White House spokeswoman. Sanders was asked to leave a Virginia restaurant because the employees and owner find her actions fronting for the administration sickening.

The sense seems to be that the restaurant owner took the moral high ground by advising Sanders that she wasn’t welcome.

The decision to open a restaurant is a decision to welcome the public. It’s the kind of service to which we all should be at least accepted if not warmly welcomed, whether we are gay or Muslim or pro-abortion or anti-abortion, unless we behave in ways that are disruptive to the business.

When Sanders wants to buy underpants, she should be allowed to, even if the owner of the lingerie shop hates everything about her. A gay couple should be able to check into any hotel. The head of Planned Parenthood should be able to order dinner in a restaurant where the owner feels that abortion amounts to the horrific killing of innocent babies.

We may dislike or even revile certain people because of their beliefs or actions. We are discomfited by their presence. We’re big boys and girls. We can handle some discomfort.

In the public spaces of life, there should still be room for us all to sit and have the comfort of a meal or a night’s shelter.

Karin Klein is a veteran California journalist and commentator.