Tuesday, October 24, 2006

A fire storm in the gay community

Death threats. Hundreds of emails. A flood of nasty calls. An email to a man seeking a quote for a landscape project has caused an enormous backlash against a Texas landscape company.

Todd and Sabrina Farber, owners of the Houston landscape company, The Garden Guy, Inc., touched off the avalanche of vituperation when Sabrina emailed a man seeking some landscaping and told him their company couldn't do work for him because it disapproves of the gay lifestyle.

Here, reportedly, is the email she sent following an inquiry from Michael Lord about a quote to do landscaping work. It read in part: "Dear Mr. Lord, I am appreciative of your time on the phone today and glad you contacted us. I need to tell you that we cannot meet with you because we choose not to work for homosexuals. Best of luck in finding someone else to fill your landscaping needs. All my best, Sabrina."

The email, forwarded and reforwarded, ignited a flood of angry responses from people, and especially the gay community, across the country.

The Farbers have had to unlist their phone number and turn off their office phone due to the number of calls they were receiving.

Even though the couple issued an apology, they're still getting bombarded with condemnation.

Here is their apology, posted this past Friday on the company website:

"We did not refuse service with malicious intent. We do not hate homosexuals and we are sorry that we hurt [ the gay couple ]. We meant to uphold our right as a small business owner to choose who our clients are. We are humbly sorry for the hurt that it has caused." — Ron Hall

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

THE LANDSCAPE COMPANY IN HOUSTON SHOULD KEEP THEIR PERSONAL BELIEFS TO THEMSELVES. RULE #1 DO NOT MIX
PERSONAL BELIEFS WITH BUSINESS.

Anonymous said...

Why should the business not be allowed to choose who they do business with based on their beliefs? The gays don't keep their personal beliefs to themselves and have no problem trying to force their beliefs on the rest of us!

Anonymous said...

Oh, I see, so following up that line of logic means we'd still have segregated water fountains and hotels. No thanks.

Anonymous said...

MMMM.... what a stupid business gay money is green and welcome here, you where asked to cut the lawn not to make a video, if you been ask for it just say no thanks !

Anonymous said...

The Garden Guy, Inc. is not a government agency and has every right to stick to their guns. We are glad there are some Christians who stand for what they believe. May God protect them and bless their lives. They are in our prayers.

Anonymous said...

Hooray for the Farbers! It's long past time for the rights of normal people to be restored! Similar to the way restaurants and taverns can refuse service based on how a visitor is dressed, the Farbers have a right to decide who they will associate with, in personal and business relations. I'm not saying this is the law, but it should be. Gay rights = gay propaganda in disguise.

Anonymous said...

The previous poster stated, "It's long past time for the rights of normal people to be restored!" And who chooses what normalcy is? Should we base it on color, religion, or perhaps political affiliation? It's prejudice no matter what you call it. From both an ethical and business perspective, the day I start turning away customers based on my personal prejudices is the day I had better close my doors! By the way, I would sell even to this poster, even though he or she is plainly quite ignorant and uneducated.