‘Gay’ dog barred from Australian restaurant
A blind man was refused entry to a restaurant in the Australian city of Adelaide because staff thought his guide dog was gay, an equal opportunities tribunal has heard.
Ian Jolly, 57, and his partner, Chris Lawrence, were barred from eating at the Thai Spice restaurant after asking if they could bring Jolly’s guide dog Nudge inside. In a statement, the owners of Thai Spice said Lawrence had said “she wanted to bring a gay dog into the restaurant,” according to Adelaide’s Sunday Mail.
The restaurant’s owners have agreed to pay Jolly 1,500 Australian dollars in compensation and will attend an education course on equal opportunities, the tribunal said.
“The staff genuinely believed that Nudge was an ordinary pet dog which had been desexed to become a gay dog,” a statement from the hearing said.