CarnalNation

A restaurant in the Australian city Adelaide has been ordered to pay $1500 (US$1389) to a visually impaired man for refusing him service because the waiter thought his guide dog was gay. In May of 2009, Ian Jolly and Chris Lawrence, accompanied by the faithful Nudge, attempted to dine at the Thai Spice restaurant. When Ms. Lawrence asked if they could enter with Mr. Jolly's service animal, the waiter apparently misheard the request, thinking she had said "gay" dog rather than "guide" dog. He flatly refused them entry even after the erstwhile diners pointed out the "Guide Dogs Welcome" sign hanging in the restaurant window and showed him a fact sheet about service animals.

Although the incident occurred last year, the Adelaide Equal Opportunity Tribunal only just heard the case. In a statement to the Tribunal, restaurant owners Hong Hoa Thi To and Anh Hoang Le said:

Following the hearing, the restaurant owners were ordered to pay Mr. Jolly the aforementioned damages, write him a letter of apology, and attend along with their staff an equal opportunity education course. For his part, Mr. Jolly was pleased with the outcome but admits that the incident has had an impact on him and his desire to eat out:

As for Nudge the guide dog, we suspect that this ridiculous situation has not fazed him, leaving him to engage happily in equal-opportunity dog butt sniffing whenever he's not steering Mr. Jolly clear of homophobic eateries.