A lesbian couple claim they were asked to leave a restaurant in Pointe-Claire, a suburb of Montreal, after showing affection for one another.
Carolyn Shaughnessy and Jessica Goldberg say they were having a nice dinner at Le Manoir last Friday when a manager came up to them.
“I was on the phone in the corner and [my girlfriend] came up behind me, and she hugged me and kissed me on the cheek, and he approached us,” Shaughnessy said in an interview with Global News.
“He just kept saying that what we were doing was inappropriate,” Goldberg added.
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The woman say they were then asked to gather their things and escorted out of the restaurant by security.
Afterwards, Shaughnessy took to Facebook to express her outrage, writing: “THEY KICKED US OUT FOR BEING GAY. Safe to say that I won’t ever be returning there again. I’m disgusted.”
The post quickly garnered over 100 shares.
The restaurant’s owner, Peter Segakis, personally apologized to the women for the incident. Le Manoir also posted an apology on its official Facebook page. It read, in part:
“Le Manoir of Pointe Claire and its president, Peter Sergakis, wish to express their deepest apologies to all, but more specifically, to the whole Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community (LGBT) and such, pursuant to the extreme actions taken this past Saturday by of one of the Manoir Pointe-Claire employees.”
So far, the Facebook apology has accumulated 80 comments, many of which are calling for the offending manager to be fired and for people to boycott the restaurant.
Segakis also told Global News, “If he would have called me and told me that two girls were kissing, I’d tell him that’s normal today and I would tell him not to throw them out.”
Still, Shaughnessy says she and her girlfriend won’t be returning to Le Manoir anytime soon. We can’t say we blame them.
hyhybt
I certainly don’t blame them for not going back, but with all the times a story along these lines (like the receipt one a couple weeks ago) turns out to be either a lie or a misrepresentation (say, they were behaving in a way that would have got a straight couple removed) it doesn’t make sense for others to punish the business or to male demands of it unless and until either evidence is made public or a pattern emerges.
Dakotahgeo
If the offending manager is still on the payroll, WHY??? His a$$ would have been the first one flying out the door! As soon as that buffoon is gone, I’ll trust the owner’s apology!
hyhybt
@Dakotahgeo: Should the manager be fired on accusation alone, without finding out whether or not it really happened as described?
GeriHew
Yes of course. Only queer women hug and kiss each other on the cheek…… everybody knows that. So this silly manager man must have been being homophobic!
SpunkyBunks
Do these situations really exist? As a gay male, I have been around the world and visited many establishments. I have never been directly treated with such rudeness as some of these homophobic claims. I’m sure I have encountered homophobes without knowing it, but they usually keep their mouths shut in my presence. It’s called being an adult.
When some of these gays receive bad treatment in public places, were they acting in public respectfully? If you are acting tacky and being overtly sexual in public or obnoxiously loud, expect to be treated like shit like everybody else who acts that way. I’m suspecting these lesbians aren’t telling the whole story about what happened. A kiss on the cheek my ass!
Dakotahgeo
@hyhybt: As the story reads, the owner has already apologized to the couple. That should lead to the managers being fired. My statement stands.
jimbryant
I’m always doubtful of stories involving lesbians and their supposed persecution. It’s not just that women can fake their sexuality, mind you. From recent news, we also know that women sometimes concoct stories of persecution.
GeriHew
@Dakotahgeo: As the story reads – if it was really just a hug and a kiss on the cheek – then I would strongly suspect the the manager concerned was jealous that it’s considered perfectly normal in the conservative straight world for two women to behave like this in public but gay, gay, gay, and therefore socially unacceptable, if two men do it.
Seriously. A straight man would think nothing of it. He’d just accept it as women being women.
I’m with hyhybt on this. I think it’s quite likely these two gay ladies were engaging in behaviour that would have been considered inappropriate if it was a straight couple doing the same thing.
hyhybt
@Dakotahgeo: You do know, don’t you, that business owners (and employees) frequently apologize to customers when they’ve done nothing wrong, or when it’s not known exactly what happened? Knowing this undeniable fact, how can the existence of an apology show that the manager should be fired?
2eo
@hyhybt: You never did answer where none religious people use anti gay rhetoric in adjustment camps did you.
You any closer to an answer or you just going to keep lying?
Spike
The restaurant has ‘security’?
hyhybt
@2eo: The question is unreasonably narrow in the context in which you originally asked, and also has nothing whatsoever to do with the current thread.
Ruhlmann
@Spike: In case people attempt to speak English.
MK Ultra
It’s fvcked that some on here are still pulling the “gay ppl are always being inappropriate in public” meme.
Ms Urethra Johnson
http://www.cbc.ca/homerun/2013/12/02/lgbt-community-invited-to-kiss-at-le-manoir/