McDonald’s Agrees To Training and Settlement After Staff Called Gay Customers “Faggots”

Super-Size Training For Management Offered After Kentucky Incident

It has been a nine month process but the customers that were the target of gay slurs by employees at a Kentucky McDonald’s have won.

9 months ago Ryan Marlatt, Teddy Eggers, and three other friends had stopped for lunch at a McDonald’s restaurant on East Market Street while visiting Louisville for the weekend. While waiting for their order, an employee behind the counter referred to them as “faggots” to another employee. When Marlatt and Eggers objected to the slur and asked to speak with a manager, the employee began arguing with them. Thinkgs escalated and the employee repeatedly called them “faggots” in front of other customers and called one of them a “cocksucker” and “bitch.”

Today, McDonald’s agreed to a cash settlement of $2,000 each and diversity training for management at 30 of it’s Louisville-area locations.

The Fairness Campaign, the local grassroots organization fighting for LGBT rights, played a big part in today’s result.
Chris Hartman, Director of the Fairness Campaign had this to say,

First, let me say—this is a victory!

And second, let me remind you that if this discrimination had occurred almost anywhere else in the Commonwealth, there would be no legal recourse…because with the exception of Lexington, Covington, and Louisville, it is still perfectly legal to discriminate in Kentucky on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. And that’s not Fair.

We cannot allow basic civil rights to be denied in Kentucky any longer—we need a statewide Fairness Law so our brothers and sisters across the Commonwealth do not have to suffer the humiliation of name-calling in a public restaurant, cannot be fired from their jobs, or be denied housing based solely on their gender identity or sexual orientation.

This case is perfect proof that Kentucky’s Future must be Fair. This is one step towards equal civil rights in the Commonwealth of
Kentucky—let’s take countless more.

The American Civil Liberties Union made the following statement

“The reason we made such a big deal out of this to begin with was because we didn’t want it happening to anyone else, so I’m very glad McDonald’s management is going to be having these trainings,” said Eggers of Indianapolis, Indiana. “We were hurt and upset, but at least we’re adults and can handle being called names. We hated thinking that this kind of harassment might also happen to someone young and vulnerable who would really take it to heart.”

The supervisor on duty refused to refund the group’s purchase, so Marlatt attempted several times in the following weeks to contact both the general manager of the McDonald’s and the corporate offices, with no results. Louisville law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, so the ACLU filed a complaint in September on behalf of Marlatt and Eggers with the Louisville Human Relations Commission. In October, representatives of a variety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender groups as well as other civil rights organizations protested at the downtown Louisville McDonald’s where the incident took place.

Although Marlatt and Eggers only asked for $28, McDonald’s offered them $2000 each on its own, which they accepted, Sun said. The Louisville Human Relations Commission has been thoroughly investigating Eggers and Marlatt’s complaint since it was filed last September and helped negotiate the settlement between the parties.

“We’re really grateful to the Louisville Metro Human Relations Commission for its investigation, as well as to our friends at the Fairness Campaign, and commonGround at the University of Louisville, for keeping the pressure on McDonald’s to do the right thing,” said Michael Aldridge, Executive Director of the ACLU of Kentucky. “While we’re fortunate to have a law banning sexual orientation discrimination in Louisville, this goes to show that it’s still important to speak out and do something about it when your rights are violated.”

“McDonald’s could have saved itself a lot of embarrassment if they’d just done the right thing from the start and done something about this, but it’s great that so many people stood up for us and came forward to say treating people the way we were treated is wrong,” said Marlatt. “We just hope the trainings keep McDonald’s from letting this happen to any of their customers from now on.”

When their Louisville Human Relations Commission complaint was filed, Marlatt and Eggers asked for a refund of the money they spent on the McDonald’s meal, and asked that one employee – the cashier who objected to the other employee’s name-calling – be commended. “She was the only employee in the whole place who tried to help us,” said Eggers. “I hope she hears about this and knows how much we appreciated her sticking up for us.”

“While we wish Ryan, Teddy, and their friends hadn’t had to go through this whole experience to begin with, we’re glad that at least McDonald’s is taking steps to prevent anything like this from happening again in the future,” said Christine Sun, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project who is representing Marlatt and Eggers. “Businesses should treat all of their customers with respect regardless of their sexual orientation.”

A video of Marlatt and Eggers telling the story of what happened to them as well as their complaint to the Human Relations Commission can be found at http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/discrim/36781res20080916.html.

Lezzymom has two kids and a wonderful partner. Her political commentary has appeared on C-Span and CSPAN.org. Visit her Lezzymom blog for more of her insights.