CONTACTAbout UsCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2025 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
A few short weeks ago, Garden Guy was just a mom-and-pop landscaping business that promoted itself as ''making Houston beautiful since 1991'' and promised to treat its customers with respect and honesty. Since then, though, the business has been vilified around the world as a bunch of bigots because its Christian conservative owners refused to do work for a gay couple.
Michael Lord and Gary Lackey, a gay couple requesting bids for a landscaping job at their new house, received a polite--and, well, honest--e-mail from Sabrina Farber, a co-owner of Garden Guy: ''I need to tell you that we cannot meet with you because we choose not to work for homosexuals.''
Stunned, Lackey forwarded the e-mail to 200 friends, asking them not to patronize Garden Guy and urging them to pass the word on to friends and family. ''I'm still shocked by the ignorance that exists in today's society,'' Lackey said in his e-mail.
And word was indeed passed on--as fast as the Web could carry it. Within days the e-mail had been forwarded to thousands of people around the world, and it quickly became the subject of heated and often ugly debates on the Internet. Because of the furor, a professional association of landscapers created a nondiscrimination policy.
A forum on the Garden Guy Web site, normally reserved for discussions about landscaping and shrubbery, was bombarded with angry comments and venomous attacks from as far away as Australia. Some people attacked the Farbers' beliefs, threatened the couple and their five children, and said they ought to be sodomized. Others condemned gays as sinners headed toward damnation.
Farber, whose company's Web site has long included biblical quotes and a link to a Web site that opposes same-sex marriage, said she was shocked by the reaction. ''It was just our intent to uphold our rights as small-business owners to choose our clientele,'' she said. ''All the hate, the threats of sodomizing my children, the threats of me being murdered, came out because of a very businesslike, straightforward e-mail I sent. The crowd of tolerance and diversity is not so tolerant.''
But Farber said she and her husband have also gotten hundreds of calls and messages offering encouragement and have been touched by that. ''We just cried. We have been through so much,'' Farber said. ''We become accidental crusaders for Christ.''
Lackey and Lord did not return calls from the Associated Press.
''Imagine if it had been a black or Hispanic couple that they wouldn't provide services to. It's really bad,'' said Jack Valinski, a Houston gay activist. ''A lot of gay couples have kids, live in the suburbs, and have neighbors that are straight. Yet we still have instances like this. There is still always that underlying discrimination we all have to deal with.''
Houston, unlike Austin and Dallas, has no ordinance prohibiting businesses from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.
Farber's e-mail reached the Harrisburg, Pa., offices of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, which said that the Farbers were misrepresenting themselves as current members of the group and no longer belong. After receiving hundreds of outraged calls and e-mails, the 1,200-member association issued a statement criticizing the Farbers and created a nondiscrimination policy.
''It has come to our attention that a former member has declined a professional engagement on the grounds of the prospective clients' sexual orientation. This conduct does not conform to the policy and practice of APLD,'' the organization said. (AP)
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
31 Period Films of Lesbians and Bi Women in Love That Will Take You Back
December 09 2024 1:00 PM
18 of the most batsh*t things N.C. Republican governor candidate Mark Robinson has said
October 30 2024 11:06 AM
True
After 20 years, and after tonight, Obama will no longer be the Democrats' top star
August 20 2024 12:28 PM
Trump ally Laura Loomer goes after Lindsey Graham: ‘We all know you’re gay’
September 13 2024 2:28 PM
Melania Trump cashed six-figure check to speak to gay Republicans at Mar-a-Lago
August 16 2024 5:57 PM
These 13 major companies caved to the far right and stopped DEI programs
January 24 2025 1:11 PM
True
Latest Stories
Anti-trans Republican Nancy Mace doubles down on dehumanizing transphobic slur during hearing
February 06 2025 10:27 AM
What does the science say about transgender women in sports?
February 06 2025 10:01 AM
It's time to build a sustainable future for LGBTQ+ advocacy work. Here's why
February 06 2025 7:00 AM
Democratic congressmen: Federal personnel office can't discriminate against trans Americans
February 05 2025 8:19 PM
Trump moves to ban international transgender athletes from 2028 Olympic Games
February 05 2025 5:21 PM
Donald Trump bans transgender athletes from playing sports
February 05 2025 4:15 PM
West Point military academy eliminates cadet clubs amid Trump’s diversity crackdown
February 05 2025 2:42 PM
15 Democratic state AGs stand by gender-affirming care
February 05 2025 2:39 PM
American satisfaction with state of LGBTQ+ rights reaches lowest point in over a decade
February 05 2025 2:05 PM
LGBTQ+ non-U.S. citizens at risk under Trump’s immigration crackdown: study
February 05 2025 12:56 PM
Lesbian cop wins $750k in sexual harassment lawsuit against former chief
February 05 2025 11:53 AM