I have great memories of my Aunt, who was an absolutely fascinating individual.
She was a pacifist who grew up in a Protestant family, married a Quaker, eventually became a Buddhist, and by anyone’s definitions was a hard left liberal.
She was also unbelievably poor, because she felt so strongly about her anti-violence position that she would not work for anyone who had any connections whatsoever with the apparatus of war… and she included businesses who did business with businesses who did business with the Pentagon (for instance). So as you might imagine, there weren’t many folks she could work for… but she was good with that.
She was one of the only people I’ve ever met who was willing to walk the walk of her convictions.
I’ve always looked at her as a hero, not because I shared her views, but because she was willing to sacrifice everything — security, money, (sometimes) food — for her beliefs. I’ve also found myself somewhat lacking in this arena; in the interests of financial stability and harmony with those around me, I’ve often held my tongue or taken employment with people whose attitudes offended me.
At a very general level, this email reminds me of her:
I am appreciative of your time on the phone today and glad you contacted us.
I need to tell you that we cannot meet with you because we choose not to
work for homosexuals.
Best of luck in finding someone else to fill your landscaping needs.
All my best,
Sabrina
Todd and Sabrina Farber
Owners, Garden Guy, Inc.
visit us at: www.garden-guy.com
Member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers www.apld.com
Creating beautiful landscaping for Houston homeowners since 1991!
Polimom assumes this landscaping company thinks it’s being true to its values… kind of like my Aunt.
But it reminds me of something else, too — something less palatable. Haven’t we had a separate but equal discussion before? I think we have, and I seem to remember that there were some decisions made about that…
Furthermore, this is a business which provides a commodity to the public, and they’re trying to compete for a share of the dollars in the age of the internet — a technological wrinkle that’s about to bring them some major publicity. (Houston Chronicle)
He said she didn’t say anything about that on the phone, but five minutes after they agreed to a Sunday appointment and hung up, he received the e-mail quoted above.
At 9:17 a.m. Lord forwarded the message to his partner, Gary Lackey, with a one-word message: “WOW.”
At 10:01, Lackey sent the message to a list of friends, some of whom forwarded it to their friends.
By Thursday, a national Internet discussion was under way.
Yes indeedy, people are chattering about this online… and on the landscaping company’s message boards. The Chronicle’s Rick Casey wrote in his column:
Were I posting, I would commend the Farbers for standing by their principles in an age where money trumps all.
They might, however, consider climbing up one more rung on the moral ladder.
They should refuse to do business with all sinners.
There’s a thought… although Polimom’s ever-so-slightly curious about where they’ll set up the bed of hot coals. Perhaps Mr. Casey can advise them.
(Ahem ;.)
So just how serious is The Garden Guy about that walk?
Are they willing to lose business over it? One hopes so, because the dollars they’re competing for are mine — and yours — and they’ve challenged us all. Unlike my Aunt’s walk, though, consumers in the Houston area have hundreds of other choices for landscaping companies.
I can walk this walk.
(h/t Blue Bayou)
* * * * *
Update: The Garden Guy’s email stated that they are members of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD). It turns out that they are not… and the APLD is not impressed (via email for deliberate distribution):
APLD does not discriminate in any way regarding persons who seek to become members or in the provision of its services.
It has come to our attention that a former member has declined a professional engagement on the grounds of the prospective client’s sexual orientation. This conduct does not conform to the policy and practice of APLD. Furthermore, APLD will take steps to see that the former member ceases any representation that he or she continues to be a member of APLD.
Oops.
Update 2: KHOU’s story says that Houston doesn’t have a sexual-orientation discrimination law:
He said other cities like Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and El Paso have adopted ordinances that would prohibit discrimination based on sexuality.
“We need something like that in Houston, but we don’t have it,” said Simoneaux.
There is an effort to propose a similar ordinance in Houston.
I’ve written about this subject before, although in a slightly different context. My preference — far and away — would be for there to be no need for such laws.
Can communities correct / punish bigotry through a boycott, do you think? Can people actually demonstrate enough civic disapproval against behavior like this that we wouldn’t need such laws and ordinances?
I really don’t know… but a landscaping business is probably as good a place as any to test a theory.
It’s a fascinating example of how word of mouth works in the internet age, actually. In another time, an irate person would have told a few friends, who might have told some other friends but maybe not, and it would not really have much impact. In the age of email, when someone decides to warn friends and family away from a business the word can spread far and wide.
(I saw the original forward from the guys whose business they turned down, and it really was just something to people they know saying, Can you believe this? FYI in case you are looking for a landscape company. And then those people forwarded it… and others forwarded it… and there you go.
Interesting write-up. The other sound bite from Jerry Simoneaux’s interview: “This is not against the law and that is a travesty”.
No, not really. Formal legal mechanisms are the last thing we need arranging business relationships. Business owners must have the right to choose to serve or not serve, at his/her own pleasure and price point or we won’t have any businesses left.
Your boycott idea, an informal method of making the Farber’s change their minds, is a much more appropriate solution. It’s risky, though. When it doesn’t work, other business owners of similar mindset may follow in their footsteps.
It IS a fascinating petri dish in our society’s laboratory. There’s not a great deal of harm that’s been done–I don’t mean to underestimate the slap-in-the-face emotional pain this probably caused the couple needing lawn-care services–but it wasn’t a physical bashing, there wasn’t a higher price charged because they were gay, there are plenty of other landscape-design altenatives available . . . all of which might suggest there isn’t an immediate need for legislation.
However, there’s the “broken-window” theory to be considered. If this is viewed as “OK”, what else might be viewed as OK? Asking a gay couple holding hands to leave a restaurant? Refusing to rent them a hotel room? Taking your kid of the classroom because the teacher’s gay? At some point will the children watching this all play out start thinking it’s OK to hit people who are gay?
There may be no need from society beyond some sort of collective shunning of discriminatory behavior. But there may need to be something more, that clearly says, “This will not tolerated in our community.” If I were a betting man, I’d put money on the latter.
Your aunt sounds like she had a coherent philosophy she lived by, probably was very careful in her purchases too. She does not sound like a woman who picked and chose her stands but rather *really* walked the walk. That is incredibly admirable. I’d bet the Farbers have no problem with divorced clients, and Jesus had much more to say against divorce than homosexuality (which was nothing).
(Despite all the talk of betting, I’m not a gambling man, so you can still morally choose to do business with me. But then again, I’m gay, so you may not. But then again, I’m not divorced, so maybe it’s OK. But I DO like bacon, clearly prohibited in the Bible, so . . .)
As a businessman I just have to say Wow! What on earth were they thinking? Forget the bigotry, what about the obvious negative effect this will have on their business?
All in all, not the sharpest bowling balls on the rack.
Thankfully, my yard guys never asked me to confess my sins before accepting my monthly checks for their hard and excellent work. (whew!) I think they realized that if they had to listen through everybody’s confessions, they would never get any work done.
Similarly, I never asked them to confess theirs. I don’t care if they covet my Mini Cooper, talk back to their mothers or have graven statuary of Paris Hilton in their back bedrooms. I just want my yard to look nice.
People do and should have a right to say, “I don’t wish to do business with you.” And they have a right to say it in a mean, hurtful and arrogant way. The rest of us also have a right to say that they are wrong-headed, hateful, holier-than-thou bigots. But we won’t because our mothers taught us that if we don’t have anything nice to say, we should say nothing at all.