Big Macs And Gay Slurs At A Louisville McDonald's

Two gay men have submitted an official complaint against McDonald's after the pair and three friends were verbally abused with anti-gay slurs at a downtown Louisville, Kentucky restaurant.

Ryan Marlatt and Teddy Eggers are taking action against the burger chain after their calls for a remedy were ignored.

In a complaint to the Louisville Human Relations Commission, the pair allege that a McDonald's employee working behind the counter called them “faggots,” “cocksuckers” and “bitch” during an lunchtime altercation on July 26^th.

The two men say they requested to speak to a manager after they overheard one employee calling them “faggots” to another. While waiting to make their complaint, the employee approached the two men and their three friends. An argument ensued, where the employee repeatedly called them “faggots” and one of them “cocksucker” and “bitch” in front of other customers.

The on-duty manager said she did not see any problem and refused to refund $28 – claiming only the unavailable general manager was at liberty to do so.

“It may just be a few dollars for a Big Mac and some fries, but if I'm going to spend my hard earned money anywhere I should be able to do so without being verbally abused,” said Marlatt.

Marlatt says staff at the Louisville restaurant repeatedly ignored his telephone calls to reach the general manager; they simply hung up on him. A corporate complaint was also ignored.

“It shouldn't be considered a tall order to expect businesses to treat customers with basic human dignity,” said Christine Sun, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project who is representing the men.

Marlatt and Eggers say that the cashier waiting on them was the only person who was equally outraged by the incident. “She was trying to get the woman who was calling us names to stop,” said Eggers. “She was at least trying to do the right thing when nobody else would.”

The incident underscores the marked differences often found between official discrimination policies and the darker reality on the ground. McDonald's is considered a gay and lesbian friendly business on paper. So friendly, in fact, that a Christian fundamentalist group, the American Family Association, is currently boycotting the franchise for supporting the “gay agenda.”