A gay couple has filed a complaint against a Christian painter who they say refused to decorate their home because of their sexuality.
Joshua and George, who declined to give their last names, explained how the merchant texted them saying she couldn’t do the job due to “recommended guidelines” at her church.
Joshua, 23, said he was “stunned” and “seething” so he took to Twitter to recount his experience, in posts that have been viewed and shared thousands of times.
The pair say they have since filed a complaint with the trading website where they found her services, hoping it will raise awareness about homophobia.
But while many urged them to make the identity of the decorator in question public, they admitted they were concerned about “naming and shaming” on social media.
Joshua and George (pictured) have complained about a painter who refused to decorate their house because of their sexuality
The merchant woman apparently texted them saying she couldn’t get the job done due to “recommended guidelines” at her church
The pair say they have since filed a complaint with the trading website where they found her services, hoping it will raise awareness about homophobia
Joshua told LGBTQ magazine Attitude: “I don’t necessarily feel comfortable holding the doors and opening the floodgates. I have this person’s details. If I wanted to, yes, I could release them.
“But to be honest, something I’m aware of is I don’t really want to be the facilitator in what is now thousands of people who could potentially go to this person.
“That individual, as much as we don’t respect her, doesn’t deserve to be piled up.”
Joshua and his 26-year-old partner wanted their bedroom painted in the two-bedroom house in Bristol they bought last June.
After finding the decorator online, Joshua asked her for a quote, but claims to have changed her attitude when he mentioned George.
“We were in the master bedroom when she asked if my partner was there and I replied ‘no he’s not’ that at first I thought something was wrong,” he told ITV News.
The woman then allegedly left the premises and hours later sent the message, which Joshua shared on Twitter last week.
The couple had hired a tradesman to paint their two-bedroom terraced house in Bristol (photo, file photo)
Alongside a screenshot of the text, he wrote: “Just another day in the life of a practicing gay – a craftsman who outright refuses to paint/decorate because of my sexuality.”
The couple did not respond to the decorator, but complained to the website on which she was advertised.
Joshua said they weren’t asking for anything political like painting a pride rainbow, adding, “We just wanted a normal, boring paint job.”
Supporters have been urging them to take legal action under the Equalities Act 2010, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, but they are not currently eager to take such a serious step.
The case comes after a customer lost a seven-year legal battle with a bakery run by evangelical Christians in Northern Ireland, which refused to make a cake with the slogan “support same-sex marriage”.
The high-profile controversy began when Gareth Lee, a member of the LGBT advocacy group QueerSpace, ordered a £36.50 cake from Ashers Bakery in Belfast, run by Daniel and Amy McArthur, in May 2014.
The couple declined to fulfill the order because they disagreed with the tagline – “Support Gay Marriage” – to be drawn as icing on the cake, which also featured Sesame Street dolls Bert and Ernie.
Daniel McArthur and his wife Amy, the owners of Ashers Bakery, photographed in 2018
The Belfast bakers refused to make a cake with the words ‘Support Gay Marriage’ written on it (photo: a cake with a similar design, made by another bakery)
This led to a seven-year legal battle that cost the Equality Commission of Northern Ireland £251,000 in public money in support of Mr Lee, while the Christian Institute covered £250,000 in legal costs for Ashers Baking Company, which takes its name from an Old Testament figure.
But in what appears to be a final blow to Mr Lee’s case, the European Court in Strasbourg last year rejected his complaint, ruling that he should have taken the alleged breach of the human rights convention to UK courts – which he has not done.
In another similar case last year, a gay couple were told they couldn’t buy their dream home in Surrey from a devout Christian couple because of their sexuality.
When they tried to arrange a viewing through internet brokers Purplebricks, they were denied and sent startling references to fire and brimstone Bible passages from the couple.
Luke Whitehouse and his ITV producer partner Lachlan Mantell saw a £650,000 three-bed semi-detached cottage when they wanted to get up the property ladder.
The sellers, builder Luke Main, 33, and his wife, Cambridge University medical physicist Dr Joanna Main, 34, refused to let Luke and his partner even look at the house, let alone buy it, because they were gay.
They quoted passages from the Bible and said they could not sell the house to “two men in a partnership.”
Luke Whitehouse and his partner Lachlan Mantell (pictured) were told they couldn’t view a property they’d seen because the owners didn’t want to sell to a gay couple
Luke Main (left), 33, a builder, and his wife, medical physicist Dr Joanna Main (right), 34 of Cambridge University, told them they were against selling their home to ‘two men in a partnership’.
The Christians asked Luke and Lachlan to explain their circumstances. But when it became clear that they are in a homosexual relationship, the booking was canceled by the homeowners
Luke, 34, told MailOnline at the time: ‘Initially I laughed for the first 10 seconds. I thought it was a joke.
“But then I was upset and angry and cried on the phone with my mom. Homophobia is still there, it’s still there. I didn’t see it coming. It blinded me.’
A spokesperson for Purplebricks said: ‘The sentiments expressed in this post are completely at odds with Purplebricks’ views and values.
“We have contacted the seller to refund their fee and request that they sell their property with another broker.”
In 2013, a A Christian couple who refused to let a gay couple stay in a double room at their B&B guest house were forced to sell after losing a lengthy court case.
Hazelmary and Peter Bull, who run the Chymorvah Hotel in Marazion, Cornwall, also received death threats over their 2008 decision to refuse a room to gay couple Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy.
five years later, they said they had no choice but to sell their beloved home and business after failing to attract enough clients and pay their legal fees following high-profile lawsuits over the matter.
The Chymorvah, which only allows married couples to share a bed, also lost its entry in the Visit England hotel database over its stance against the Equalities Act of 2007.
And despite a good summer of sunshine, they were not even half full and believed to be the only hotel in the county “still with rooms.”
Hazelmary and Peter Bull, who run the Chymorvah Hotel in Marazion, Cornwall, also received death threats over their 2008 decision to refuse a room to gay couple Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy
Hazelmary Bull said she and her husband were victims of a campaign of abuse because of their policies on gay couples
The pair claimed to have received death threats, vandalism and defaced their website with pornography.
They also claimed that the bolts had been removed from their car’s wheels and that they had recently nailed a dead rabbit to their fence over who could stay at their boarding house.
In 2011, the couple were ordered to pay £3,600 to civil partners Mr Hall and Mr Preddy after they were denied a room at the Grade II listed hotel on religious grounds.