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Two Men Claim Homophobic McDonald's Employee Refused To Serve Them
By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 17, 2013
Modified Nov 17, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 17, 2013
Modified Nov 17, 2013
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It's hard enough justifying a trip to McDonald's when the McRibs are sautéed in piglet tears—it's even harder when it's super sized with a side of rampant homophobia. Two Manhattan men are suing McDonald's claiming that an employee at the Hamilton Heights location mistakenly assumed they were gay, then refused to serve them because of it.
According to the Post, Willis Washington Jr. and Horace Stevenson III were at the McDonald's around 2:30 a.m. last December when the incident occurred. A fellow customer started things off by saying “he had a problem with gay people and that the gay lifestyle was not what God wants.” The men ignored him, but then the cashier joined in the homophobia and refused to serve them.
Washington and Stevenson then said they were pushed out of the store. Stevenson dialed 911 when the cashier “actually handed one of the customers a metal pipe from behind the counter and motioned to him that he should hit plaintiffs with it." The two men fled the store, then returned when police arrived—except they were blamed for the incident, and handcuffed. Charges were dropped against both men, who say they were "severely humiliated, mentally anguished and emotionally and physically distressed." Which is how a lot of people feel after eating McDonald's.
Tagged
discrimination
gay
hamilton heights
lawsuit
manhattan
mcdonald's
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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