Posted on 11/09/2006 1:11:02 PM PST by Jaded
HOUSTON — A few short weeks ago, Garden Guy was just a mom-and-pop landscaping business that promoted itself as "making Houston beautiful since 1991" and promised to treat its customers with respect and honesty.
Since then, though, the business has been vilified around the world as a bunch of bigots because its Christian conservative owners refused to do work for a gay couple.
Michael Lord and Gary Lackey, a gay couple requesting bids for a landscaping job at their new house, received a polite _ and, well, honest _ e-mail from Sabrina Farber, a co-owner of Garden Guy: "I need to tell you that we cannot meet with you because we choose not to work for homosexuals."
Stunned, Lackey forwarded the e-mail to 200 friends, asking them not to patronize Garden Guy and urging them to pass the word on to friends and family. "I'm still shocked by the ignorance that exists in today's society," Lackey said in his e-mail.
And word was indeed passed on _ as fast as the Web could carry it.
Within days, the e-mail had been forwarded to thousands of people around the world, and quickly became the subject of heated and often ugly debates on the Internet. Because of the furor, a professional association of landscapers created a nondiscrimination policy.
A forum on the Garden Guy Web site, normally reserved for discussions about landscaping and shrubbery, was bombarded with angry comments and venomous attacks from as far away as Australia.
Some people attacked the Farbers' beliefs, threatened the couple and their five children, and said they ought to be sodomized. Others condemned gays as sinners headed toward damnation.
Farber, whose company's Web site has long included Biblical quotes and a link to a Web site that opposes gay marriage, said she was shocked by the reaction.
"It was just our intent to uphold our rights as small business owners to choose our clientele," she said. "All the hate, the threats of sodomizing my children, the threats of me being murdered, came out because of a very businesslike straightforward e-mail I sent. The crowd of tolerance and diversity is not so tolerant."
But Farber said she and her husband have also gotten hundreds of calls and messages offering encouragement and have been touched by that. "We just cried. We have been through so much," Farber said. "We become accidental crusaders for Christ."
Lackey and Lord did not return calls from the Associated Press.
"Imagine if it had been a black or Hispanic couple that they wouldn't provide services to. It's really bad," said Jack Valinski, a Houston gay activist. "A lot of gay couples have kids, live in the suburbs and have neighbors that are straight. Yet, we still have instances like this. There is still always that underlying discrimination we all have to deal with."
Houston, unlike Austin and Dallas, has no ordinance prohibiting businesses from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.
Farber's e-mail reached the Harrisburg, Pa., offices of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, which said that the Farbers were misrepresenting themselves as current members of the group and no longer belong.
After receiving hundreds of outraged calls and e-mails, the 1,200-member association issued a statement criticizing the Farbers and created a nondiscrimination policy.
"It has come to our attention that a former member has declined a professional engagement on the grounds of the prospective clients' sexual orientation. This conduct does not conform to the policy and practice of APLD," the organization said.
Ping
Imagine if the landscapers were fundamentalist Muslims & refused to service the account. What then?
This is ridiculous. All she had to say is, "I'm so sorry, but we're overbooked and we couldn't possibly give you the attention you'd require," or words to that effect.
Being p.c. is crap, but it accomplishes the same purpose [not working for gays.] It's being honest that caused the problem.
Whatever happened to just saying, "no bid"?
Well, bigotry, practiced by a private business or individual, is their right, for good or bad. But the definition of the word "bigot" does not limit itself to only "immutable characteristics". One can be bigoted against Muslims or Christians, for example.
Let's not get into the Left's game of redefining words.
Off with their hedge!
ROTFLMAO!
Freepmail wagglebee or little jeremiah to subscribe or unsubscribe from the homosexual agenda ping list.
Click FreeRepublic homosexual agenda keyword search for a list of all related articles.
Add keywords homosexual agenda to flag FR articles to this ping list.
LOL!!
I don't think it's the same thing at all.
I don't trust Muslims. I usually try to avoid places owned by Middle Easterners [convenience stores] because I don't like the thought of terrorists being funded with my money.
The point here is that she didn't keep her opinion to herself. If she had, there'd have been no problem.
On that note, I'm going to quit buying from the gay store I go to - they overcharge anyway.
Or here's my bid to mow your lawn twice a month: $200,000.00 payable in advance.
Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.
Frankly, the landscapers could have avoided a lot of bad PR had they simply told the gay guys that they were too busy to take the work.
With that said, however, the reaction of the 'offended' pair speaks volumes about the hypocrisy of the Left, demanding 'tolerance' of their views or lifestyles, yet being completely intolerant of those who don't share them.
"Bigotry" is not a crime. However this doesn't fit the definition of bigotry. This is a guy upset about people's lifestyle, not their immutable characteristics. If he doesn't want to do work for filthy perverts then he doesn't have to."
Exactly right, they can go get another landscaper.
"Imagine if it had been a black or Hispanic couple that they wouldn't provide services to. It's really bad,"
Not the same thing. Being queer is a choice and a choice that disgust many people including myself. Being black or white is a skin color and nothing more.
Stop trying to change the subject. This is about Christian bigotry. (sarc)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.