A Cracker Barrel in Tennessee turned away a Knox County detective and pastor who made headlines recently for claiming law enforcement should enforce the death penalty against gays, The Knoxville News Sentinel reports. Detective Grayson Fritts, a pastor at All Scripture Baptist Church, had planned a meeting for the church at the restaurant location on June 29. After the Tennessee Democratic Party sent a letter to the restaurant chain and protesters organized a phone campaign, however, Cracker Barrel said the church event would not be permitted at the Cleveland location. “We serve everyone who walks through our doors with genuine hospitality, not hate, and require all guests to do the same,” the restaurant said in a statement, adding that it had a “zero-tolerance policy for discriminatory treatment or harassment of any sort.” The move comes after Fritts reportedly sparked an investigation after he called people in the LGBT community “freaks” and “filthy animal[s]” during a June sermon.
