Restaurant mistakes `guide' dog for `gay' dog
Sun. April 25, 2010 12:00 AM by GoPride.com News Staff
Australia -
A restaurant owner in Australia has been ordered to pay a blind man $,1500 after mistaking his "guide" dog for a "gay" dog and refusing to let them.
57-year-old Ian Jolly, his girlfriend Chris Lawrence and their dog "Nudge" tried to go into Thai Spice in May of last year.
"The staff genuinely believed that Nudge was an ordinary pet dog which had been desexed to become a gay dog," the restaurant said in a statement.
Lawrence and Jolly gave the waiter a "guide dog fact card" but he still wouldn't let them in, even though the restaurant has a "guide dogs welcome" sign on the front door.
On Friday, the restaurant owners were ordered to pay Jolly $1,500 and send him a written apology.
"I just want to be like everybody else and be able to go out for dinner, to be left alone and just enjoy a meal," Jolly told Adelaidenow.com.au.
57-year-old Ian Jolly, his girlfriend Chris Lawrence and their dog "Nudge" tried to go into Thai Spice in May of last year.
"The staff genuinely believed that Nudge was an ordinary pet dog which had been desexed to become a gay dog," the restaurant said in a statement.
Lawrence and Jolly gave the waiter a "guide dog fact card" but he still wouldn't let them in, even though the restaurant has a "guide dogs welcome" sign on the front door.
On Friday, the restaurant owners were ordered to pay Jolly $1,500 and send him a written apology.
"I just want to be like everybody else and be able to go out for dinner, to be left alone and just enjoy a meal," Jolly told Adelaidenow.com.au.