ACLU: McDonald's Employees Served Up 'Faggot' Slurs

The ACLU has stepped in to help five men in Louisville get an apology and refund form McDonald's after they say employees at the restaurant referred to them with anti-gay slurs:

"Ryan Marlatt, Teddy Eggers, and three other friends had stopped for lunch at a McDonald's restaurant on East Market Street on July 26, 2008 while visiting Louisville for the weekend. While they waited for their food to be prepared, an employee behind the counter referred to them as 'faggots' to another employee. Marlatt and Eggers then approached the cashier, said they didn't come to the restaurant to be insulted, and asked to speak with a manager. As they waited for the supervisor on duty to appear, the employee who had called them 'faggots' started arguing with them, repeatedly calling them 'faggots' in front of other customers and calling one of them a 'cocksucker' and 'bitch.'...'Nobody should be treated the way my friends and I were at that McDonald's,' said Eggers of Indianapolis, Indiana. 'When we finally got to speak with a supervisor, she said she didn't see what the big deal was. I couldn't believe what was happening.'"

According to the ACLU, the McDonald's supervisor refused to issue Marlatt a refund and his attempts to contact management higher up were met with silence. The ACLU has filed a complaint with Louisville's Human Relations Commission.

Ironically, McDonald's has been the target of right-wing Christian group American Family Association recently for its pro-gay agenda.

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Kentuckians Outraged Over Basketball 'Kiss' Photo

A photo the Louisville Courier-Journal published following a match-up between the U of Louisville Cardinals and the U of Kentucky Wildcats caused such a fuss that a columnist yesterday was forced to publish an explanation. Some readers demanded apologies over the photo of Cardinals players Juan Palacios, left, and Jerry Smith, which some saw as a kiss. The negative reaction, the paper says, was "unprecedented."

Columnist Pam Platt writes: "Some of the comments registered by angry, offended and/or baffled readers: 'Awful,' 'an embarrassment,' 'horrible decision,' 'poor judgment,' 'distasteful,' 'a mystery' and 'shame on you.' I have to admit I was a little baffled by the response. Aren't sports the province of the ubiquitous fanny pat? Aren't players in each other's faces all the time during athletic matches? Yes and yes. So what's a little game-time hug in that universe?"

Here's the original story.

Platt explains: "Sam Upshaw Jr., who has been a photographer for 20 years, took the photo of Jerry Smith hugging Juan Palacios in the first half, after a big, emotional play that favored the Cards. In the original photo, there was more of a Kentucky player involved in the play in the frame; only his arm remains in the cropped picture that appeared in the paper...After looking at all the game photos submitted for publication and online posting, Bryan settled on the Palacios/Smith shot that was printed because the picture showed the game's top scorers and it showed them in a moment of celebration, with one congratulating the other...As for the theory floated by some readers, that this was a purposeful attempt to rile or humiliate Cards fans, it doesn't really deserve a response but [Sports editor Harry Bryan has one: We're not in the business of offending or agitating readers..."

Finally, Platt asks her readers, "What are you thinking? What is it about two athletes sharing a moment of physical and emotional closeness in the middle of a big game, in the middle of a basketball court, that puts some people off so much?"

Flurry over a photo prompts explanation [courier-journal]
(via gawker)

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