Politics

The Pro-Trump Owner Of A Vegan Cafe In Sydney Reckons He’s Been “Cancelled” By The Gay Community

"..I don’t want your money... all I want is normal people, who don’t abuse me, and don’t abuse each other. That’s all I fucking want, I don’t fucking want you in this restaurant.”

by Patrick Lenton  1 November 2020
Hale & Hearty

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Hale & Hearty, a plant-based vegan cafe in Waterloo, Sydney, has managed to spectacularly alienate the majority of their own customers through a series of social media posts declaring the restaurant as both pro-Trump, and as a “safe space for Trump supporters”. They also took the time to endorse Pauline Hanson.

In response, the restaurant has accused “fake vegans” and the “LGTBT” (sic) and gay community, of abusing them.

The “abuse” has all been in the form of comments in response to the business and owner Mark Da Costa, posting a series of pro-Trump messages on the official Hale & Hearty Facebook and Instagram pages. Many former-customers of the vegan establishment believe that endorsing Trump stands in opposition to their values, and in retaliation have decided to simply stop eating their food. lol.

Earlier in the week, a Daily Telegraph article quoted Da Costa as saying that ““left wing fake vegan community” are trying to destroy his family business.

“TODAY WE ANNOUNCE that we are a @realdonaldtrump safe zone. A place to discuss what’s in your heart without prejudice,” Mr Da Costa wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday. “Hold tight people freedom of speech will be back. To all our past American friends and guests stay strong.”

While there seems to be a **lot** of drama happening on private Sydney vegan Facebook pages, it’s easy to follow on the very public profiles of the cafe. It’s worth noting that Waterloo traditionally has a high concentration of queer residents, and that queer people are often vegans, I don’t know why.

Accusations by queer patrons of the establishment that Da Costa was “homophobic” or a “bigot” for supporting Trump seemed to have really hit a nerve though, and over the weekend the social media posting by the cafe both increased in ferocity and number.

How quickly the gay community forgot that we put our reputation on the line back in 2017 when the gay community were in…

Posted by Hale & Hearty on Friday, 30 October 2020

“How quickly the gay community forgot that we put our reputation on the line back in 2017 when the gay community were in the fight of their lives for equality…” he says.

“Now for only being vocal about being Trumpions we are labeled BIGOTS, HOMOPHOBIC & RACIST. Bitch please we been one of your greatest friends since 2015. STOP THE ABUSE PLEASE.”

With friends like these, who needs enemies (or plant based vegan cafes?)

“Food minus the politics and abuse…” they write later.

In order to get a quick overview of why a pro-Trump business would anger the queer community, it’s worth remembering the long history of targeted attacks against the LGBTIQ community that Trump has undertaken since being in power, especially against the trans community.

There’s a full list here, but some highlights include Trump and his administration’s opposition to the Equality Act, their support for employment discrimination against LGBTQ people, they rolled back Obama-era non-discrimination protections, placed transgender incarcerated persons in the wrong prisons, and many many more.

In one video, still available on the Hale & Hearty Facebook page, Da Costa says:

“Fuck you, man. Fuck you. I don’t care about you, I don’t want your money, OK, I don’t want your fucking masks, I don’t want your fucking vaccines, I don’t want nothing. All I want is this, normal people, who don’t abuse me, and don’t abuse each other. That’s all I fucking want, I don’t fucking want you in this restaurant.”

Ok! Easy.

Junkee has reached out to Hale & Hearty for further comment.