Atlanta landscaper refused to work for gay couple due to their “perverse” marriage
Stuart Dinenno called the couple's marriage "foolish" and a "delusion"
A landscaper in Atlanta, Ga., refused to work with a gay couple because he believes their marriage is “very perverse and foolish.”
Stuart Dinenno, of Botanica Atlanta Landscape Design, made the comments in a post on Yelp, after Colton S. of Sandy Springs wrote a review complaining about Dinenno’s discrimination, Towleroad reports.
“Contacted today about a very large project in Sandy Springs,” Colton wrote. “The owner asked if the work was for me and my wife, I said no me and my husband and he replied that he wouldn’t be interested in working with us.”
Dinenno responded, confirming that Colton’s review was true.
“Yes, this is an accurate description of what happened,” Dinenno wrote. “When doing a large landscaping project it is necessary to work with the homeowners closely over several months through the design and installation phases.
“I can’t do that, all the while going along with the delusion of two men calling themselves a married couple, with one man referring to the other man as his husband,” he continued. “It’s very perverse and foolish, and needs to be called out as such.”
Yelp is currently on “Active Cleanup Alert,” according to the site, after a flood of negative reviews criticizing Dinenno’s views.
One reviewer called his response “disgusting,” saying his services were “contingent on fleeting, bigoted beliefs.” Another wrote that it “must be nice to be so righteous that you can afford to refuse business.”
Georgia currently has no laws protecting LGBTQ people from the sort of discrimination practiced by Dinennon, though there are a handful of cities and counties that protect LGBTQ people from employment discrimination.
The state was in the news earlier this year after the Georgia Senate passed a bill that allowed adoption and foster agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ people and same-sex couples.
And last year, Republican State Rep. Betty Price was slammed after asking whether HIV-positive people could be quarantined as a way of stopping the spread of the virus.
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