Queer couple thrown out of Tim Hortons, claiming “Family Friendly Environment”.

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Originally Posted by suebee

ETA: This kind of treatment would be in conflict with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We'll see if anything more comes of this.

Yep, it conflicts entirely with the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Ontario Human Rights Code, at least on the basis of sexual orientation. The problem trying to press charges in these cases is that you have to get it investigated by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which usually takes a while. That and the fact that it really doesn't count for the "subtler" forms of homophobia that are a result of heteronormative ideas of "family friendly" still largely unchallenged legally.

It's a bit of a stupid system, really, since there rarely end up being consequences for businesses who discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation other than bad publicity in the media. Technically, Tim Horton's could face charges for the actions of this particular manager. It's too bad that this incident did not take place inside the restaurant instead of outside. Some Timmy's have cameras near their drive-thrus, but we'd have to know where the couple and their family/friends were actually sitting...although if they were sitting near the window like the article said a camera inside may have caught some it on camera. It would have been nice to see what video surveillance had to say about their supposedly "inappropriate behaviour." Something tells me that they were doing pretty much what they said...and I hate all these cases popping up where companies claiming queer couples act "inappropriate" fail to give any evidence or detail, but seem more concerned with the "offense" taken by conservative patrons. It would be nice if one of them could be caught on camera.

Like others have mentioned, I doubt this is a reflection of Tim Horton's actual policies, and more the reflection this particular Tim Horton's manager and of the town itself (other articles on the incident show Riley talking about how they are often stared at when they go into that Tim Horton's, but that no one ever said anything before).

I think protesting outside this Tim Horton's in particular makes sense for the benefit of the manager (should they remain employed there...hopefully not) and the folks who decided to have a "prayer circle" in the parking lot out of concern for the couples' "souls", but not outside Tim Horton's across the nation. This seems like a pretty local thing.

I also think action should be taken by Tim Horton's against this particular manager. Public pressure has gotten managers fired for similar cases before, it would be nice to see the manager face some consequences for their actions.