
A gay couple from Long Island, New York is speaking out after a waiter called them “faggots” in Spanish as they were walking out of Casa Rustica in Smithtown after a meal.
Craig Hollid-Ausset and his husband Marc wrote about the incident on Facebook and received a call from the restaurant's owner, Mimmo Gambino, the next morning, offering to fire the waiter.
“We're not trying to get people fired,” Marc Hollid-Ausset explained to ABC7. The owner did suspend two employees who are going through sensitivity training.
The restaurant, which wrongfully characterizes being gay as a “lifestyle”, posted a long apology to its Facebook page:
“We are deeply sorry and saddened for the unfortunate incident that took place on May 3rd. We do not condone the actions of one employee's irresponsible behavior and it does not reflect the reputation of our 34 year establishment. We accept everyone's lifestyle. The employees have been suspended until further notice and we are making sure they are enlightened of modern day lifestyles. There's no room for anyone who isn't educated in our restaurant. We hold our staff to the highest esteem of professionalism and personal integrity. People are proud to be part of our establishment and only people of the highest character will be employed here going forward. Again, the actions of one individual does not reflect us as a whole. We've been in business for 34 years and NEVER had such an unfortunate incident happen like this before. Please accept our apology. We have numerous employees that are part of the LGBTQ community and we support them 100%. The past couple of days have been heartbreaking for us and we feel terrible that these customers had to go through such a horrific experience in our building. No excuse for it. We promise you that we will never let anything like this happen again. From the bottom of our hearts- we are incredibly sorry and hope some day you will accept our deepest condolences.”