A gay couple who sued a printing
company after they received “homophobic” pamphlets instead of the
wedding programs they had ordered has settled.
Australians Stephen Heasley and Andrew
Borg married in Pennsylvania in September, 2017.
The men sued Netherlands-based
Vistaprint in a Massachusetts federal court. The couple had ordered
their wedding programs from the company, which has a regional
headquarters in Massachusetts. On the day before they were to marry,
the men received their order, but the pamphlets they received were
not wedding programs, instead they warned that “Satan knows our
flesh is weak. He preys upon our weaknesses to tempt us to sin.
Satan can only influence us to want to sin. He cannot make us sin.”
The men called the incident “by far
the most direct, personal and aggressive act of homophobia either of
us has experienced to date.”
Vistaprint CEO Trynka Shineman on
Tuesday said that the company's investigation into the matter found
that there had been a mix-up with two orders. She added that the
mix-up was the result of human error and not a “malicious act.”
“Humans are involved in our process
and with that, we're not perfect. We make mistakes and that's what
happened in this case,” she told the AP.
David Gottlieb, an attorney for the
couple, said that a settlement had been reached that included an
apology from Vistaprint and a promise that the company would make
donations to LGBT rights groups in the United States and Australia.
“We have always wanted to use this as
an opportunity to create greater understanding and acceptance of the
LGBTQ community,” the couple said in a statement. “We’ve
accepted Vistaprint’s apology, and will work with them to select
U.S. and Australian-based organizations that they will be making
donations to in order to further achieve this mission.”