There are family restaurants—places like IHOP, Denny's, Cracker Barrel—and then there are family restaurants like Hooters. At least that's where Florida man Steve Golba likes to take his family for fun times in a friendly atmosphere. He also probably likes sinking his teeth into those enormous mounds of hot wings, not to mention those eye-popping nacho platters. And what's wrong with showing support for this family restaurant by having your 11-year-old son wear a Hooters face mask to school?
Apparently a lot.
In September, fifth-grader Ian Golba was asked to remove his Hooters mask while roaming the halls of his public elementary school. The principal was all a-titter and claimed that the mask was "inappropriate" because it "expresses a woman's body."
A 5th grader says he was told to take off his Hooters mask again today at school, because it’s offensive. His father says there’s nothing offensive about a restaurant.#Fox35 @fox35orlando pic.twitter.com/iKPXtJzeFQ
— Valerie Boey FOX 35 (@vboey) September 16, 2020
"I told [the principal] we go [to Hooters] as a family," Steve Golba told Fox 35 Orlando. "We eat their wings, we watch sports. I said we have chocolate cake! We go there all the time. It is not an offensive mask."
The mask allegedly defied the Student Code of Conduct's dress-code section. But the elder Golba doesn't see why a restaurant-themed mask would go against the dress code.
"I've never viewed it as anything but a restaurant," he said. "Do we feel women's bodies are offensive? … I said I don't understand why it's inappropriate. There's nothing wrong with that mask."
Golba's family identity, though, will not be swayed by a public-school rule: He plans to take his son back to Hooters—and little Ian will no doubt be bouncing with joy. So hats off to Steve Golba, both a proud father and a Washington Free Beacon Man of the Year.