“An Australian restaurant that refused a blind man entry because a waiter thought his seeing-eye dog was ‘gay’ has been ordered to apologise and pay compensation.
Ian Jolly was told he could not take guide dog Nudge into Adelaide’s Thai Spice last May because a member of staff objected, The Sunday Mail reported.
The restaurant’s owners said a misunderstanding had arisen between Jolly’s female companion and a waiter who understood the woman ‘to be saying she wanted to bring a gay dog into the restaurant’.
‘The staff genuinely believed that Nudge was an ordinary pet dog which had been desexed to become a gay dog,’ the owners said in a statement to South Australia’s Equal Opportunity Tribunal.
The tribunal on Friday ordered the restaurant to pay Jolly 1,500 dollars (1,400 US) and offer him a written apology for discriminating against him on the grounds of disability.
The restaurant, which displays a ‘guide dogs welcome’ sign, refused to comment to the newspaper and was unavailable to respond on Sunday.”
Read more at Yahoo News
I know I shouldn’t be finding this funny, but:
“offer him a written apology’
Give a blind man a written apology? Hmmm
Hahaha, how did I miss that,
Was the waiter blind as well? Wouldn’t it have been obvious that the dog was a guide dog due to the harness and high vis jacket they wear?
I couldn’t help laugh at the written apology.
Aw, look at him…
I’m blind, and I read this article and your reply.
It’s 2010 we have ways of getting to text. It is also worth noting that just because a person is registered blind and a guide dog user, does not mean that they have no useable vision at all. It’s astounding that when people see someone with a guide dog looking in a shop window or looking at text, they think that the person is either training the guide dog or actually lying about being blind – seriously.
No offence just FYI
‘The staff genuinely believed that Nudge was an ordinary pet dog which had been desexed to become a gay dog,’
Surely this is the most wrong sentence out of the whole thing. Not only did the restaurant have a problem allowing ‘gay’ dogs in but they also believe that you can turn something gay by neutering it. With this level of stupidity, it does make you wonder how they even manage to run a business successfully.
Oh gosh. It’s moments like these that make me truly embarrassed to be an Australian. Gay dog indeed!
Well, there goes my faith in humanity, that is a whole new level of stupid.
Haha that’s ace! That dog is gorgeous.. can’t believe they refused him.. poor pup!
I’ve yet to understand how a ‘desexed’ (whatever that is) dog would thus become gay?
Regardless, it sounds like a simple miss-heard sentence ‘guide dog’ – ‘gay dog’ probably compounded by accents has been blown up out of all proportion. Then again, even if Nudge was a gay guide god that really shouldn’t have precluded his admittance into the restaurant.
Thats disgusting. Horrible horrible people. Being a gay dog must be wonderful haha. That dog has rights.
gay and guide??? The female companion must have mumbled quite a bit to have someone else mix those up ,..ehehe …
Someone probably having a bad day .. if something of it is true ..
That is possibly the cutest dog ever :3
Desexed to become a ‘gay dog’? That doesn’t even make sense in itself! What an idiot.
What sort of argument did they think these people were putting up to bring the dog in?…
“You can’t refuse him entry…It’s homophobic!”
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
what a woof-ta
desexing causes gayness? how can ya tell? which sex would the desexed dog prefer? :/
In what way does ‘de-sexed’ =gay? And what did they think was going to happen that would cause a problem?
Strange world…
if you say it in a very whiny nasally tone “gay-dog” it does sound like “guide-dog”…
like saying mauri parpens sounds like dick van dyke saying mary poppins…
and i mustard mitt, i now have in my mind’s eye, a gay dog pride day…with floats full of leather clad dogs parping on a fog-horn…
Gay dog, guide dog…..they do sound similar I suppose. But aww, what a little cutie, eh?
LC x
i dont think that’s a picture of the actual dog, since the article didnt run a picture of him. maybe he had multiple piercings & lipstick & was wearing a taffeta frock with jimmy choos while playing Y-M-C-A on his ipod?
not just a gay dog, but an underage gay dog, if the pic is true
Surely any rational person who thought they heard ‘gay dog’ would have said ‘excuse me?’ and had the matter cleared up, also don’t guide dogs wear special jackets to show they are guide dogs, wouldn’t the waiter put two and two together???. obviously I am thinking far to rationally about this so, awwww look at the cute puppy wuppy : D
Homophobia against dogs? Said or any discrimination against a seeing-eye dog? A written apology to a blind guy?!? There are so many layers of wrong in this story, it hurts my brain a little.
I’m surprised no-one’s mentioned Sparky, Stan’s gay dog in South Park. He’s a role model for gay dogs everywhere.
I think this one needs Big Gay Al to come to the rescue! I’d adopt him…
Jesus Christ, what difference would the dog’s sex have made? What were the restauranteurs planning to do with it had it been straight?
It’s discrimination gone barking mad!
Aw look at his wee face. “Huh?”
(Too many things wrong with this situation to mention, so I’ll stick awwwing over the cute puppa dog.)
Tom, the dog is a female called Nudge. Jolly is Ian Jolly, the blind man, to whom the letter will be addressed. Egg on face much?
Sorry, completely misread your post, egg on my face lol.
Since the dog had a great fashion sense, barked with a lisp and was driving a prius couldn’t have helped, either…
“The restaurant, which displays a ‘guide dogs welcome’ sign”
I’ve always wondered for whom are these signs put up ?
This is nothing to do with anything but when I was a kid we had our male cat neutered & after that he ‘enjoyed the company’ of all the local stray toms.
Thanks Derren for highlighting this unusual case – I don’t think we have heard of an incident like this in the UK
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