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Houston Gardener Refuses to Work for Homosexual "Partners"
The Houston Chronicle ^ | 10/21/06 | Rick Casey

Posted on 10/21/2006 2:30:15 PM PDT by GOP_Thug_Mom

Rick Casey

Oct. 19, 2006, 10:04PM We refuse to work for homosexuals

By RICK CASEY

It's hard to imagine that when Sabrina Farber sent out an e-mail Wednesday she had any idea what kind of firestorm it would set off.

At 9:08 a.m. Farber, who together with her husband, Todd, owns Garden Guy Inc., a landscaping company on Hillcroft, hit "send" on a message that delivered a painful blow with the verbal equivalent of a smiley face.

"Subject: Cancel Appt - Garden Guy

"Dear Mr. Lord,

"I am appreciative of your time on the phone today and glad you contacted us. I need to tell you that we cannot meet with you because we choose not to work for homosexuals.

"Best of luck in finding someone else to fill your landscaping needs.

"All my best,

"Sabrina"

'Marriage is under attack' Michael Lord, who is building a house in the Heights with his partner, told me he had found the company through an Internet search. He liked the "before and after" photos on the company Web site.

He said he didn't notice, at the bottom of one of the pages, under a photo of the Farbers and their four children, this:

"The God-ordained institution of marriage is under attack in courts across the nation, and your help is needed.

"Go to: www.nogaymarriage.com to take action."

Lord said he filled out a form on the Farbers' Web site and received a return e-mail expressing enthusiasm for the project. He called the company Wednesday morning to set up an appointment.

"Mrs. Farber kept referring to me and my wife," said Lord. "I told her it was actually my partner."

One-word message: WOW He said she didn't say anything about that on the phone, but five minutes after they agreed to a Sunday appointment and hung up, he received the e-mail quoted above.

At 9:17 a.m. Lord forwarded the message to his partner, Gary Lackey, with a one-word message: "WOW."

At 10:01, Lackey sent the message to a list of friends, some of whom forwarded it to their friends.

By Thursday, a national Internet discussion was under way.

Kirsten Ott of Atlanta learned of it from a bulletin sent out by one of her MySpace friends, with the subject line: "Please read, contact them and repost!! Fight this!!"

By the time she alerted me by e-mail, I had already received several others.

I reached the Farbers by phone, but they declined to comment.

Meanwhile, a forum on the Farbers' Web site, www.garden-guy.com, was heating up.

Messages ranged from the angry-but-reasonable to the abusive.

"I am embarrassed for you and your husband," wrote "Chris." "Just as you choose not to do business with us, I, my friends, my family, my co-workers and everyone I meet, will not do business with you! I have sent your e-mail to over 50 people I know and work with. These people know 50 others each ... was your bigotry worth it?"

A writer who said he is a Houston architect wrote that he was glad to learn of their policy so he could avoid sending anyone to them.

"Renting a billboard might not have been as effective as cancelling an appointment by an easily redistributed e-mail, and not having the God-given guts to convey your stance over the telephone."

Many of the postings indicated they would boycott the Garden Guy. Some challenged the Farbers' version of Christianity. I found one that was critical of the angry correspondents.

"There is more hate in these posts than in the original e-mail," wrote "Dave." "Why do you feel that we Christians MUST accept you? Don't you find it ironic that while you demand in one breath that we give up our position that Homosexuality is a sin worthy of hell, that you condemn us to that very place in your next?"

A few posts were crude. Perhaps that's why the Farbers removed the "forum" feature from their site about midday Thursday. When I last checked, there were more than 60 messages viewed by more than 4,000 visitors.

Were I posting, I would commend the Farbers for standing by their principles in an age where money trumps all.

They might, however, consider climbing up one more rung on the moral ladder.

They should refuse to do business with all sinners.

You can write to Rick Casey at P.O. Box 4260, Houston, TX 77210, or e-mail him at rick.casey@chron.com.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: gardenguy; homosexualagenda; homosexuals; houston; promarriage
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I'd like to see some support for the "Garden Guy"
1 posted on 10/21/2006 2:30:17 PM PDT by GOP_Thug_Mom
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To: GOP_Thug_Mom; Monitor

oops--think I was supposed to put "Rick Casey" as the author. How can we correct that?


2 posted on 10/21/2006 2:31:34 PM PDT by GOP_Thug_Mom (libera nos a malo)
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To: GOP_Thug_Mom

I can understand why a Christian printer would refuse to print pro-homosexual literature, or a caterer would refuse to cater a union of butt buddies. Heck, I would never design an explicitly pro-sodomite web site. But landscaping? I don't get it.

If a homosexual couple asked me to design a website to sell office supplies, or televisions, or to promote a flower shop or something, I wouldn't think twice about it.

Landscaping a yard for someone is not participating in their sin, for goodness sake.


3 posted on 10/21/2006 2:37:02 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Peace begins in the womb.)
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To: GOP_Thug_Mom

Not from me. I'm curious if they treat all sinners this way?


4 posted on 10/21/2006 2:41:52 PM PDT by TNdandelion
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To: Jeff Chandler

Exactly.


5 posted on 10/21/2006 2:44:35 PM PDT by TNdandelion
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To: Jeff Chandler
If a homosexual couple asked me to design a website to sell office supplies, or televisions, or to promote a flower shop or something, I wouldn't think twice about it. Landscaping a yard for someone is not participating in their sin.

I agree. And like the book says, "The wealth of the sinners is laid up for the just."

But seriously, didn't Joseph work for an ungodly Pharaoh? Joseph was such a good steward of the Pharaoh's money, that he got promoted and became very rich himself.

I hardly think that Pharaoh was any more righteous than these two homosexuals.

6 posted on 10/21/2006 2:46:47 PM PDT by Mr. Brightside
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To: GOP_Thug_Mom

Already posted:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1723571/posts


7 posted on 10/21/2006 2:55:06 PM PDT by panaxanax
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To: Mr. Brightside
"I reserve the right to refuse my services to anyone."

yitbos

8 posted on 10/21/2006 2:56:04 PM PDT by bruinbirdman ("Those who control language control minds. " - Ayn Rand)
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To: GOP_Thug_Mom

I do not support them. Their position seems overwrought and dogmatic. They were just asked to do some landscaping work. I do not understand why the clients' lifestyle choices were relevant.

Do they refuse to do work for someone who has divorced?

This said, I believe that they should be free to associate with whomever they want. Refusing to do work for someone is not illegal. But when they make their bigotry public, they should be prepared to suffer social opprobrium.


9 posted on 10/21/2006 2:56:41 PM PDT by oblomov (Join the FR Folding@Home Team (#36120) keyword: folding@home)
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To: GOP_Thug_Mom

http://www.garden-guy.com/

You can email him from this website. Yes, we all should support and congratulate him!


10 posted on 10/21/2006 2:58:03 PM PDT by panaxanax
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To: GOP_Thug_Mom

If nothing else, there doesn't seem much logic to their refusal to do business with the homosexuals. Rather than make a fairly pointless and counterproductive statement, it would've been much smarter to just take the homosexuals' money and, say, donate it to their church or that group opposed to gay marriage. Instead, the homosexuals will probably just make a point of finding a homosexual landscaper now from the ads in a gay publication perhaps.


11 posted on 10/21/2006 2:59:24 PM PDT by AntiGuv (o) ™ (o)
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To: Jeff Chandler
But landscaping? I don't get it.

I wouldn't refuse their business for something like that either.

BUT, I support the gardener's freedom to do so.

12 posted on 10/21/2006 3:01:11 PM PDT by Tribune7
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To: oblomov

I believe you are wrong. Would you work for a child molestor?


13 posted on 10/21/2006 3:02:57 PM PDT by brivette
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To: Tribune7
I support the gardener's freedom to do so.

As do I. As a Christian businessman, however, I would have handled it differently.

14 posted on 10/21/2006 3:03:09 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Peace begins in the womb.)
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To: AntiGuv
would've been much smarter to just take the homosexuals' money and, say, donate it to their church or that group opposed to gay marriage.

Good idea.

15 posted on 10/21/2006 3:04:28 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Peace begins in the womb.)
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To: GOP_Thug_Mom
was your bigotry worth it?"

One day you will stand before the Almighty to be judged. Was your fornication worth it?

16 posted on 10/21/2006 3:05:36 PM PDT by IronJack
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To: GOP_Thug_Mom

This should be his choice. Just as it should be a homosexual's to not perform work for a heterosexual.

Sexual preference should not be a "protected" class from either side.


17 posted on 10/21/2006 3:05:44 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
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To: bruinbirdman

I had a homosexual come into my business a few weeks ago and did everything possible to sell him.

When he left, I had $300 of his in MY pocket.

Our church got some. My kids got some.

... And my wife got the rest. lol


18 posted on 10/21/2006 3:06:04 PM PDT by Mr. Brightside
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To: TNdandelion

I don't think it has to do with not doing business with sinners. As all have sinned. But there is a difference in being a sinner who realizes their sin and one who says what they are doing is not sinful and wants to force that view on everyone else. Not only force it but make it legally acceptable and legally enforceable by the power of the government to punish you. It would be like doing yard work for activists for making murder normal, or stealing, or lying or in this case sodomy. There is a big difference in accepting sinners and accepting those who claim their sin is not a sin. Free country. That is until homosexuals get protected group status by the government then the government will force you to work for them and your freedom of association is taken away.


19 posted on 10/21/2006 3:06:47 PM PDT by therut
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To: brivette
Would you work for a child molestor?

I consider homosexuals to be disgusting, sick bastards. That doesn't mean I wouldn't take their money. Child molesters, however, are pure evil and should be shunned.

20 posted on 10/21/2006 3:07:04 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Peace begins in the womb.)
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To: All
I think the real question here (regardless of whether they are justified in denying service to homosexuals) is whether they have the right to refuse service to anyone the choose.

My opinion would be that a business owner should have the right to run a business however he/she sees fit.

However I suspect that since homosexuality it a "protected" status...they may well be in legal trouble.
21 posted on 10/21/2006 3:07:05 PM PDT by flipper999 (vote early, vote often, vote republican even if it hurts.)
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To: Jeff Chandler; TNdandelion

".......But landscaping? I don't get it."

You just might if you spent your day on your hands and knees with your butt stuck up in the air! As I said on the origunal thread, landscaping and gardening requires you to be in often compromising positions. How'd you like to spend your work day thinking that you were being peered at by some tinkerbell admiring your butt-crack? Not for me.

Besides that, the food I bought with the money earned just wouldn't taste right. Would you shake hands with this guy to "seal the deal"?

I say good for the Garden Guy & his family for taking a stand against these perverts. More should follow his example to let them know they are NOT accepted in our society.


22 posted on 10/21/2006 3:07:08 PM PDT by panaxanax
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To: AntiGuv
Instead, the homosexuals will probably just make a point of finding a homosexual landscaper now from the ads in a gay publication perhaps.

Then I guess everybody wins, huh?

23 posted on 10/21/2006 3:07:12 PM PDT by IronJack
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To: panaxanax
Already posted:

Can you go through our posts next and check our spelling please?

And then look for grammatical errors?

Thanks a bunch!

What would we do without you people who know it all?

24 posted on 10/21/2006 3:07:56 PM PDT by Mr. Brightside
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To: Jeff Chandler

We are contractors in the same general field. We completed a job, and then got to thinking about what this lady's profession was. She worked at an abortion clinic. We thought about it, and almost returned her money with a letter, but then, we decided to give the profit $$ to the local pro-life center.


25 posted on 10/21/2006 3:08:05 PM PDT by Tuscaloosa Goldfinch (good fences make good neighbors!)
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To: panaxanax
Their belief statements are readily apparent on the website you provided.

No doubt, the "customers" saw it too. I suspect law suit or big publicity motivations.

26 posted on 10/21/2006 3:08:38 PM PDT by labette (This is a high-class thread. Please conduct yourself accordingly.)
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To: Tuscaloosa Goldfinch
e decided to give the profit $$ to the local pro-life center.

Here's another place to send money: VirtueMedia .

27 posted on 10/21/2006 3:09:45 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Peace begins in the womb.)
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To: GOP_Thug_Mom
He said he didn't notice, at the bottom of one of the pages, under a photo of the Farbers and their four children, this: "The God-ordained institution of marriage is under attack in courts across the nation, and your help is needed. "Go to: www.nogaymarriage.com to take action."

Yeah, right. Just like the lesbians a year or two ago who were shocked -- shocked, I tell you! -- that the Knights of Columbus hall was unwilling to host their "marriage" ceremony.

28 posted on 10/21/2006 3:10:26 PM PDT by Sloth ('It Takes A Village' is problematic when you're raising your child in Sodom.)
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To: panaxanax
You just might if you spent your day on your hands and knees with your butt stuck up in the air!

LOL!

29 posted on 10/21/2006 3:11:06 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Peace begins in the womb.)
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To: Mr. Brightside
What would we do without you people who know it all?

"Search" is our friend.

30 posted on 10/21/2006 3:12:11 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Peace begins in the womb.)
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To: Jeff Chandler

Perhaps what they should have done was to make their Christian position explicit to their prospective clients, and wait to see if the gay men still wanted to hire them. Chances are they would refuse to give their business to "homophobes" - and no one would raise a peep about discrimination against Christians.


31 posted on 10/21/2006 3:12:11 PM PDT by tjd1454
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To: GOP_Thug_Mom

They are a private business and they have the right to choose whom they will work for or not.

Just the same way as a homosexual is free to hire a homosexual gardner, instead of a heterosexual one, if they so choose.

My personal opinion on this is that I don't want to know and I don't care. I want to get the best trades person at the most reasonable price, and vice versa, look for a decent customer.

But I should be free to refuse to work for someone, just because -- i.e. you wouldn't catch me working for Pelosi, Murtha, and so on, and the government has no right to coerce me. Or if a house prominently displays a "Vote for Angelides" sign, I have the right to refuse to work for them.

These are private transactions.


32 posted on 10/21/2006 3:12:56 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. VOTE Straight Republican TIcket.)
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To: oblomov

"Do they refuse to do work for someone who has divorced?"

Not a good comparison. Divorced individuals are not lusting for your young son's butt.

Sorry to be crude, but these guys (homos) just don't walk around holding hands and decorating their homes. They are into every vile perverted thing your mind can imagine; beastiality, fisting, feces games (use your imagination on that one)....etc.


33 posted on 10/21/2006 3:14:54 PM PDT by panaxanax
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To: panaxanax

origunal = original


34 posted on 10/21/2006 3:17:03 PM PDT by panaxanax
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Comment #35 Removed by Moderator

To: IronJack

Um, no. That was my whole point: That although everybody may get what they want, not everybody wins, because what some of them want is stupid and self-defeating.


36 posted on 10/21/2006 3:19:26 PM PDT by AntiGuv (o) ™ (o)
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To: Jeff Chandler

Jeff, that wasn't my question.


37 posted on 10/21/2006 3:23:33 PM PDT by brivette
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To: brivette

No, I wouldn't work for a child molester.


38 posted on 10/21/2006 3:24:14 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Peace begins in the womb.)
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To: GOP_Thug_Mom

They did nothing wrong. Maybe homosexuals make them uneasy.


39 posted on 10/21/2006 3:25:33 PM PDT by Dustbunny (The BIBLE - Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth)
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To: Jeff Chandler

Homosexuals=child molestors.


40 posted on 10/21/2006 3:25:41 PM PDT by brivette
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To: brivette
Homosexuals=child molestors.

I wouldn't neccessarily make that an equation. They are much more likely, though.

41 posted on 10/21/2006 3:27:20 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Peace begins in the womb.)
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To: TNdandelion

Some of the people I know who are the loudest about homosexuals being sinners, have had many divorces. One of them has has SIX divorces last count. I would rather see two gays together for 30 years devoted to each other than a person with 2 or 3 or more divorces.


42 posted on 10/21/2006 3:28:48 PM PDT by buffyt (America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people. Pres. George Bush)
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To: Mr. Brightside

"Can you go through our posts next and check our spelling please? And then look for grammatical errors?"

Well, okay, if you insist.

"I had a homosexual come into my business a few weeks ago and did everything possible to sell him."

...sell him? You mean you actually tried to sell a homosexual? To whom and for what purpose?


43 posted on 10/21/2006 3:29:31 PM PDT by panaxanax
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To: panaxanax

NOT ALL HOMOSEXUALS are into those things. My relative who is homosexual is a fine man!


44 posted on 10/21/2006 3:30:08 PM PDT by buffyt (America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people. Pres. George Bush)
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To: panaxanax
You just might if you spent your day on your hands and knees with your butt stuck up in the air! As I said on the origunal thread, landscaping and gardening requires you to be in often compromising positions. How'd you like to spend your work day thinking that you were being peered at by some tinkerbell admiring your butt-crack? Not for me.


45 posted on 10/21/2006 3:30:37 PM PDT by deport (The Governor, The Foghorn, The Dingaling, The Joker, some other fellar...... The Governor Wins)
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To: IronJack

BTW, it reminds me of the Muslim airport cab drivers who refuse fares that have alcohol in their luggage. That also strikes me as rather stupid and silly. They're certainly not going to induce anyone to give up alcohol and, quite to the contrary, I personally think that's a great reason to make sure I always have a bottle of wine in my suitcase...


46 posted on 10/21/2006 3:33:41 PM PDT by AntiGuv (o) ™ (o)
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To: Jeff Chandler
"Search" is our friend.

But the Already Posted People are not.

47 posted on 10/21/2006 3:34:41 PM PDT by Mr. Brightside
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To: panaxanax
You just might if you spent your day on your hands and knees with your butt stuck up in the air! As I said on the origunal thread, landscaping and gardening requires you to be in often compromising positions. How'd you like to spend your work day thinking that you were being peered at by some tinkerbell admiring your butt-crack? Not for me.

Jeepers creepers. You're letting your imagination get out of control.

Besides, what makes you think you are so attractive, anyway?
/snigger

48 posted on 10/21/2006 3:36:25 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60s...you weren't really there.)
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To: buffyt

Granted, there are some rare exceptions, butt (pun intended) for the most part they prey on young boys.

The question is do you really know what he does with his partner/partners in his bedroom/motels/public bathrooms? Would you let your teenage son go on a camping trip with him?


49 posted on 10/21/2006 3:37:55 PM PDT by panaxanax
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To: deport
How'd you like to spend your work day thinking that you were being peered at by some tinkerbell admiring your butt-crack?

lol!

Reminds me of a worker at my sister in law's house. He laid ceramic tile and marble flooring.

Half way through the project he comes to the house with a boob job and dressed in women's clothes.

We laughed that he was probably the only worker in town that had both a cleavage and a plumber's crack.

50 posted on 10/21/2006 3:39:23 PM PDT by Mr. Brightside
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