ABC show exposes that most people would let gay family suffer harassment before they step in

By DMITRY RASHNITSOV

In Florida gay and lesbian parents cannot adopt children, but that doesn’t mean that couples can’t find other alternative ways to have a family. What if a gay or lesbian couple took their family out to breakfast at a nice restaurant and a rude waiter decided to tell them he didn’t agree with their lifestyle? Would straight couples at the restaurant speak up? Or would they let the waiter have his way with the gay and lesbian couple? ABC’s hidden camera show What Would You Do tried out this exact scenario at a Brooklyn restaurant.

“Are you sisters?” the waiter asks the lesbian couple. “Are your husbands joining you?”

At first, the waiter just seems to be a nuisance but then he gets personal.

“Oh, you’re lesbians?” he exclaims. “What about your kids? Don’t they need daddies?”

The two women and their children are shocked and embarrassed. As they try to place an order, the waiter gets even more incensed and finally asks them to leave.

Of the two days of filming and more than 100 patrons witnessing the waiter verbally abuse both a gay and a lesbian couple with two kids, only about a dozen people spoke up to voice their concerns before they knew the cameras were rolling.

When the show’s host John Quinones came out from behind the scenes and explained to patrons that this was really a setup and asked them why they didn’t step in, the diners all kept saying the same thing.

In scene after scene, people said they didn’t get involved because they thought it wasn’t their business and the family could fend for themselves.

One woman went as far as to laugh at the waiter’s insults. She later told Quinones that she agreed with the waiter, how could two women have children, it was crazy, she said in a thick eastern European accent.

Finally, interracial couple Randi and Kevin Nash, married for 20 years steps in to defend the gay couple.  As soon as the intolerant waiter began his badgering, Randi sat open-mouthed and astonished by what she was hearing. When the waiter finally stepped away, Randi and Kevin both offered their support to the gay couple — telling them they’d “never seen anything like it in their life.” Everyone shook hands as the waiter returned and tried to befriend the Nashes, but they were having none of it.

“Is there anything I can do?” the waiter asked them.

“Yes there is,” Kevin said. “Turn around and walk away.”

Randi added that they are accepting of all people and asked the waiter not to talk to them.

One man actually got out of his chair and was ready to confront the waiter and, “punch him if he said one more thing to the couple.”

While it’s disheartening to see that so many people wouldn’t step in to help fight for equal rights for all, it’s nice to know that there are still some people out there that would help a gay and lesbian couple when they are clearly being discriminated against.

To see the complete video visit: http://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo