Gay business owners attacked on Facebook

This was pretty interesting. Not surprisingly, there is a homophobic business owner in Queensland. I say "not surprisingly", as QLD has rather the reputation in the past for being a conservative state. It wasn't so long ago we in New South Wales were considered by many QLD'ers to be total leftie pinkos or some shit. So in light of that I wasn't entirely surprised to come across this little homophobic gem from the owner of Hattonvale Nursery, Andrew Gretton. I was very surprised though that they saw fit to write it on Facebook:

Lovely. There are several things wrong with the above rant, but they're all so obvious there's little point in drawing attention to them. Very surprisingly though, the QLD'ers have whipped up a storm of support for the gay couple that runs the business being attacked; the Wet Dreams fish shop (love the title). Note the plants being sold out the front (Oh the humanity!).

In fact social media has been very critical worldwide of said Hattonvale Nursery. The owner, surprised at the backlash, defended himself with a further rant on Facebook:

Lovely. Oh right, he never said  he "disliked" gays right? And to read the original post again, and that way we'll all understand that he does in fact not dislike gays.... OK, here we go......

First he uses the derogatory word "poofs". Maybe in some quarters it's not intended to be derogatory (like a jest amongst friends) but certainly it is in this case. He then goes on to say "you poofs don't have ethics", which is the same as saying "you gays don't have ethics". Really? Then he invokes the bloody Bible to condemn their sexuality as immoral, using the Adam and Eve boring old line, which has absolutely nothing to do with their business or his. But oh yeah, he reckons he doesn't dislike gays.... Fuck, I wonder how anyone would have ever got that impression? :s

Probably the most interesting thing about it all for me, is after a BS rant like that in the public arena, he actually claims in his second post that people have got it all wrong and he's really a lovely bloke and it's everyone else that's got a problem. Which to me is very indicative of how people behave when they rant verbal diarrhoea about gays and then claim they don't dislike them at all, and WTF is all the fuss about, and why is everyone so upset, and they have the problem for flying off the handle over nothing. It's like they do some kind of mental gymnastics and use double speak to hide their animosity. "I didn't really say that", bla bla bla.......

Anyway, freedom of speech has huge advantages here. Perhaps he's destroyed his business overnight? So yes in this case, freedom of speech may mean freedom to fuck yourself right up.

It's heartening though to see the reaction from people up there in the community. If QLD'ers are ready to defend gays then times are certainly changing.  Indeed, the so called ethics of Andrew Gretton fall flat in the much more ethical wider community.

You can read about it all here, and some of it:

THE international online community has rallied behind the owners of an aquatic pet shop who were the subjects of a controversial Facebook post. 

The owners of Wet Dreams Aquatics in Plainland, who did not want to be named, have been buoyed by the show of support after they were called "p**fs" and their business ethics were questioned by a rival business owner on the social media website. 

Andrew Gretton, of Hattonvale Nursery, posted the comments on his business Facebook page, Hatton Vale Nursery, during the week. 

He claims they were acting unethically because they were selling plants. Mr Gretton also makes reference to the bible and homosexuality. 

"I stand by what I said," he said. 

"It's not at all derogatory. 

"I have nothing against people's sexuality; people can be whoever they want to be. 

"What I said was directed at the two blokes at that shop." 

But Facebook users didn't see it that way. more