Or foolhardy.
A gay couple have claimed a decorator refused to work on their house because of her Christian faith.
Joshua and George, who declined to give their surnames, said she became awkward on realising their sexuality while visiting the home they share.
The tradeswoman later texted stating that as a ‘practising Christian’ she could not carry out the job due to ‘recommended guidelines’ at her church.
Joshua, 23, said he was ‘gobsmacked’ and ‘seething’ so took to Twitter to express his outrage.
He shared the text and added: ‘Just another day in the life of a practising homo – a tradesperson outright refusing to do some painting/decorating because of my sexuality.’
A tradesperson should have the absolute right to decline work on whatever grounds they decide. No one should be forced to work for another should they not choose to do so. However, in today’s climate, giving this reason will blow up in her face. Already it’s on social media (natch – Ed) and in the mainstream news. When playing this game of poker, the Christianity hand is way below that of the alphabet people. The fact that they have not named her doesn’t mean that it won’t come out. Someone, somewhere, will do the digging to get her name all over the media.
She would have been better off just deciding that her diary was too full and keep putting them off until they went elsewhere – or give an absurdly inflated quote. Telling the truth is a dangerous game these days.
This is one of those cases where I wish that they could both lose. Gay guy should just get over himself and go with a non homophobic decorator, there must be plenty out there. His day in the life quote is implying that this kind of bigotry is widespread when we all know that it is not. As for Christian woman, who other people want to hook up with is non of her business but hey, the Bible says that they are an abomination. If she actually read the Bible she would find that she couldn’t do business with anybody, so broad is the list of petty rules contained in it.
This one is causing me a bit of an internal struggle with regards to the whole Farage de-banking debacle. Of course they are at opposite ends of the spectrum, but they are on that same spectrum. So if a commercial organisation can refuse service on whatever grounds they like, then does it matter the size of the organisation be it a single trsadesperson or national bank?
There is a difference, here. You cannot function without a bank account. It is pretty much the same as a utility. A self employed tradesperson is not providing an essential service in anything like the same way. If she declines the work, other tradespeople won’t blacklist them as a potential client. So not comparable. If we had independent banks in the same way that we have independent tradespeople, the Farage story would be a non event.
I agree with you LR, banking is different given the inability to function without basic accounts. Perhaps we should go back to the previous arrangement where there was effectively a bank of last resort in the post office; that would ensure commercial freedom whilst ensuring nobody is completely cut off.
This is a tricky one. Decorating a room is just that. Unless they are asking her to put paper up that shows things she found uncomfortable with. The Christian baker who did not want to make a cake which celebrated a gay wedding was understandable. They let the couple know of other bakers that could help. They were still taken to court over it. If you are a practicing Christian your views should be respected like any one else.
What I found odd, was when working with a couple of lesbians who were looking for a plumber. They did not feel comfortable having a man in their house, he might hit on them. They wanted another lesbian. Now I kept out of the conversation but I’m sure another lesbian is more likely to hit on another lesbian than a bloke who will most likely sense she isn’t interested.
But then in this crazy world what do I know????
Given that she is going into someone’s home and will be there for an extended time, declining the work if it makes her uncomfortable makes sense. Telling them why is insanity in today’s climate.
As for the lesbians, some blokes wouldn’t be able to sense that, but a tradesman is there to do a job, so it is an unlikely scenario.
We clearly haven’t watched the same films then… 😉
It reminds me of the joke:
“Son, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
“I want to be a plumber or a pizza delivery guy, dad.”
“Son, you have got to stop watching porn”.
I think the lesbians have been watching too much German porn. No, that was the washing machine repair man wasn’t it?
Look, everyone is having trouble getting trades people to do jobs. They’re flat out with work. However, claiming that someone won’t do a job because of ‘homophobia’ sounds a bit desperate, and rather cheap. Hopefully the rest of the trades in the district will get wind of this pair and put them where they belong, at the very back of a very long queue.
Imagine this scenario if it was a Muslim decorator refusing to do work for this couple? I’d love to see the twitterati turn themselves inside out trying to support both sides.
The big question, one that no-one here is asking…
Would these gayers be as vocal in their outrage if the tradey had been a fuzzy wuzzy. If not, why are they discriminating against Christians but not against Islamic people? Sounds like religious discrimination to me. They should be done for a hate crime.
Turns out jaded is thinking along same lines…
Took me half an hour to type mine out because latest mini-Drakon over-filled her nappy and needed a bath.
I suggested she give these two whatever they are a stupidly high quote. You can always expect one of these to go mental when told what you think about their weirdness.
The stink of “soshul meeja” driven attention whoring is pretty over powering. Just follow the link and look at the picture of “joshua and george”, which radiates so much smugness it made my eyeballs bleed!
I was thinking there was more to the story…
I have no problem with gayers, but I couldn’t stand being in the house with Josh and George mincing around all day…
Time was when Julian and Sandy would have started their own decorating business.