As Gov. Mike Pence was signing SB 101, which legalized discrimination against LGBT people, Indiana businessman Scott Wise was drafting an open letter about his feelings on the subject. The devout Christian wanted the public to know that he does not agree with the sentiments behind the new law and will never discriminate against anyone because of their sexual orientation. He wrote:
I'm a business owner. I'm a role model for 4 children, many of my employees and I hope for even some in the Indiana community. I love God and Jesus and am a born again, 3 years removed, baptized Christian.
I employ over 1300 people in the state of Indiana. Several of my employees are openly gay, proud and happy which include hourly, employees, management and corporate executives. Most importantly, I consider all of them my colleagues and even more so, my friends.
I have no idea how many other people I employ are gay and I don't really care. On the flipside, I also have no idea how many are straight. Why should I? I have no idea how many of my guests are gay, or Jewish, or Indian, or any other descriptive demographic status that is utterly unimportant in running a business, nor any of my personal business. I am trying to teach my team to simply give excellent customer service to a guest that pays our wages and allows us to have a job. The ONLY thing I would ever ask from our guest is that they treat our restaurants and our staff with the same respect, politeness, courtesy, etiquette and manners that we should all hold each other accountable to as human beings, not just restaurant employees and guests.
We want to show support for this business owner who has so proactively been out front on this issue for us.
So join us Friday, April 3, at 7pm at Scotty's Brewhouse in Downtown Indianapolis, 1 Virginia Ave., just a few blocks from Lucas Oil Stadium. I'll be there, I know Anthony Nicodemo and Derek Schell will be there. Come say hello and celebrate our beautifully diverse country.
