A British gay couple has made a complaint against a Christian painter who refused to decorate their home because of their sexuality.
Joshua and George shared a photo on Twitter that appears to show a message sent by a female painter which says that she could not carry out the job at their two-bedroom terrace home in Bristol because of her church’s ‘recommended guidelines’.
The pair, who have taken the decision not to identify the painter, say they were left ‘gobsmacked’ and ‘seething’ by the message. They say they have now made a complaint to the trading website where they found her services, which they say they hope will raise awareness about homophobia.
The case comes after a customer lost a seven-year legal fight with a bakery run by evangelical Christians in Northern Ireland which refused to make a cake with the slogan ‘support gay marriage’.
Explaining why they are not naming the painter, Joshua, 23, 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 that I’m conscious of is, I don’t want to be really the facilitator in what is now thousands of people who could potentially go to this individual. That individual as much as we don’t respect her does not deserve to be piled on.’
Joshua and his partner, 26, wanted their bedroom painted at the home which they bought in June last year. After finding the decorator online, Joshua asked her round for a quote but claims to have noticed her attitude change when he mentioned George.
‘We were in the master bedroom when she asked if my partner was in and I replied ‘No he’s not’ that I first thought something was wrong,’ he told ITV News.
The woman is then said to have left the property and sent the message hours later, which Joshua shared on Twitter last week. Alongside a screenshot of the text, he wrote: ‘Just another day in the life of a practising homo – a tradesperson outright refusing to do some painting/decorating because of my sexuality.’
The couple have not responded to the decorator but have complained to the website which she was advertised on.
Joshua said they did not ask for anything political, such as painting a pride rainbow, adding: ‘We just wanted a normal, boring paint job.’
