The headline in the U.K.’s Daily Mail reads “Gay BMW salesman forced to quit after being banned from wearing pink and branded ‘bender Ben’ “. After reading that, a few things came to mind. First, even in a progressive society like the United Kingdom, where marriage is legal, our gay colleagues are still being discriminated against. Secondly,the media in the U.K. can get away with printing things like ‘Bender Ben’!
To quote the story “Ben Hamilton, 26, claims he was branded “the nice poof”, “faggot” and “bender Ben” by workmates at a BMW showroom.
He told the hearing he was banned from wearing pink clothing and was made to change.
And when he grew a beard he claimed colleagues walking past him would jeer the phrase “Deal or No Deal?” at him after gameshow host Noel Edmonds up to 30 times a day.
Mr Hamilton said a manager told him: “It must be great to be gay. Does it mean you and your fella can go out, have a few beers, have a curry, beat each other up and still get laid?”
The insults and chiding get worse and Ben is forced to quit his job as a salesmen at a BMW dealership. The one positive outcome of this is the fact that the British government is actually looking into the situation and is conducting an employee tribunal.
Read the rest of the story on the Daily Mail’s website