Two food and cooking influencers are working to bring the Mississippi Gulf Coast together to support LGBTQ-friendly businesses this week. Recently, a Long Beach restaurant drew national attention when the owners issued a deal for straight couples only. Their message specifically said they “don’t do the trans or the lesbians or gays.”
On Tuesday, March 25, Darwell Yeager III and Nettie Mechelle Yeager shared a free food offer at Darwell’s Happiness Cafe in Long Beach. Both spelled out that only heterosexual couples, regardless of how long they’d been together, could qualify.
The restaurant has been popular, including being featured on Food Network multiple times. On separate episodes of “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” host Guy Fieri has highlighted Crawfish Etoufee and Shrimp Creole on a menu that includes Cajun, seafood and barbecue.
People responded quickly with many showing support for the LGBTQIA+ community while others arguing that people can refuse service to anyone they choose.
“That is not Long Beach. That is not who we are,” Mayor George Bass said in a recent interview with The New Orleans Advocate.
Online, many people along the Gulf Coast have rallied against the business, including calls for a boycott. A local nonprofit that encourages diversity, equity and inclusion has encouraged people to vote with their dollars.
“When a business chooses bigotry over belonging, it’s up to all of us to show that hate has no home here. Let’s stand together and support LGBTQ+ owned and allied businesses that celebrate diversity. Let’s use our voices, our presence, and yes — our dollars — to send a clear message: the LGBTQ+ community matters!” the Board of Gulf Coast Equality’s statement reads
Other local businesses have issued statements that all customers, regardless of gender status or sexual orientation, are welcome. Lists of restaurants, bars, bakeries and more that are supportive are being shared on social media.
This week, two food influencers have announced an event to spotlight those options. Matthew Bounds, of Gulfport, and Caroline Davis, of Bay St. Louis, have created the Love the Coast crawl.
Bounds is the author of a New York Times bestselling cookbook who shares recipes as Your Barefoot Neighbor. Davis is another popular cooking vlogger and author known online as Mississippi Kween.
Here’s what we know about their event, which will take place soon, and the latest updated on what the Yeagers are saying after their video went viral.
Love the Coast restaurant tour offer taste of Mississippi. Here’s what we know about where, when to go
The Love the Coast tour is a restaurant and bar crawl that’s set to take place over 10 and a half hours. It’ll kick off at 11:30 a.m. Friday, April 4.
The food tour will span several town and cities along the Mississippi Gulf, from Ocean Springs to Bay St. Louis and end the night in Long Beach.
The goal, Bounds said, is to show these businesses love without giving any focus to or time discussing the statements that spawned community action.
Organizers Bounds and Davis were royalty for the Order Of Dionysus this year. The Mardi Gras krewe will hand out stampede cards at the first location. People will get a stamp per location, and there will be a drawing for those with fully-stamped cards at the end of the evening. Prizes include a wine basket, ball tickets or a spot to rid on their float.
The tasting menu with prices listed per person includes:
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11:30 a.m.: Birria eggrolls at Rosita’s, $8.
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12:30p.m.: Pudding shots at Lafittes at Porter, $2 per person.
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1:15 p.m.: Deviled eggs at Lafitte’s At Porter, $8.
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2 p.m.: Beer and pretzel bites at Chandeleur Island Brewing Co., $8.
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2:45 p.m.: Sample plates at Rusty Pelican, $7.
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4 p.m.: Cupcakes at Sugar Pop Baking Co., $4.
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4:45 p.m.: Selfies with “All Are Welcome” mural at the Mockingbird Cafe.
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5:30 p.m.: Chicken cobbler at Radish, $5 and cash bar.
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6-8 p.m.: Finally First Friday in Long Beach will have live music and vendors on the town green in downtown.
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8 p.m.: Afterparty at Trax Bar and Grill. There will be karaoke, and the Order Of Dionysus will hold a stampede cards drawing.
Bounds has asked that everyone coming to the crawl check on the event’s Facebook page for a head count and bring cash.
He also shared on the event page that some people are wanting to visit the restaurants at a different time or only come to a few of the stops.
“This was planned as a group activity, so I’m giving the restaurants headcounts based on the RSVPs here. You are MORE than welcome to show up at any of our stops and we’d love to see you! The catch is that I can’t guarantee the restaurant will have enough of the advertised item to serve you,” he posted. “Please don’t let that discourage you from coming out Friday, just be prepared to be flexible and be a good sport.”
He also plans to launch a food drive later this week.
Later in the month, Trax Bar and Grill plans to host Unity in the Community. A drag show is planned from 3-7 p.m. Saturday, April 19. “We will even save two seats for Mr & Mrs Darwell because EVERYONE is welcome!” the event listing reads.
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What do the owners of Darwell’s Happiness Cafe say now?
The owners deleted the video, but others have uploaded it in its entirety online. On the day he posted it, Darwell Yeager said if money comes from a source he doesn’t want to mingle with, he’d rather not do business with that person. “I’m not a prostitute to my industry.”
In the following days, the owners referenced President Donald Trump’s goal to “end to all this wokeness” and briefly shared a 10% MAGA discount that was deleted before the restaurant could open for customers to cash in. Both argued their views are Bible-based.
On Thursday, March 27, the couple repeatedly shared a statement, written by Nettie Yeager, to their personal and business Facebook pages.
“I would like to apologize to all my friends. If I wrote or said something that offended you… I’m not perfect… I say things people don’t understand, misread , misunderstood, jokes maybe I shouldn’t say, get upset and say something I should have thought twice before saying.. I’m not perfect and I get my feelings hurt too. Not always right. But I’m human too.. I’m truly Sorry if you got offended or misunderstood something not meant to hurt anyone…..” she posted.
It was deleted by Friday morning, and most of the pair’s most recent Facebook content had been deleted or removed from public access. The business’ Facebook page was gone.
Darwell Yeager is now posting to a public Facebook group that was created for the eatery in 2009 and has recently been updated.
Saturday, Darwell Yeager said everyone is welcome at the restaurant but backed the decision to offer free food only to straight people, saying all customers are welcome but were not eligible for the deal.
“I made a special for a certain group of people for a certain time like specials are meant to be. Nothing more Nothing less. All are welcome at Darwells and always have been as long as you respect everyone while you are here. We have been open 20 years this year and hold a reputation with serving people Nothing has changed. Thank you for eating with us!” he posted.
As of Monday, March 31, the duo has started branding themselves in videos as “The Str8 Couple.”
Darwell Yeager has made several comments in the past week stating their videos are monetized, so regardless of whether someone is watching to show support or not, he gets paid.
Bonnie Bolden is the Deep South Connect reporter for Mississippi with Gannett/USA Today. Email her at bbolden@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Love the Coast tour to highlight LGBTQ-friendly restaurants on MS Gulf
