feng shui

West Village Restaurant Denies Same-Sex Couple’s Rehearsal Dinner Because Gays Would Ruin ‘Feng Shui’

A wedding cake decoration featuring two men created by ZippyDogs, a promotional business, is on display at the Gay Wedding Show on April 17, 2004 in Seattle, Washington
I’m sorry, we can’t have you ruin the feng shui in this establishment. Photo: Ron Wurzer/Getty Images

A newlywed same-sex couple is suing a restaurant that refused to host its rehearsal dinner because a manager said that big groups of gay parties are “especially bad for feng shui.” The Daily News reports that Barrett Greene and Thomas Eng, since married, had already put a deposit down at Amber Village, a West Village Asian fusion restaurant, when an employee gave them the puzzling news. Are large groups of gays prone to displacing furniture and plants? Apparently one restaurant manager thinks so. New York State’s Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA) prohibits employers and places of public accommodations from discriminating based on sexual orientation. However, the law doesn’t say anything about discriminating on the basis of a large group’s proclivity for ruining the flow of chi in a room.

Restaurant Boss Says Gays Would Ruin ‘Feng Shui’