Colleague said something homophobic

At work today, we have a woman who is in our store every saturday morning, we pay her to make balloons and facepaint for customers with little kids. I talked to her for the first time today and she said something homophobic to me ("it's just wrong to be gay") I wanted to smack her... I do not tolerate homophobia at all and especially not at work.

What should I do? She is not a normal employee she is almost like a 'contractor' person I guess.

Reply 1

iamthetruth

1

How is that homophobic? That is her opinion and she's entitled to it. I agree with her.

Reply 2

Plantagenet Crown

20

Inform her that homosexuality is not a choice and present in many animal species, therefore not unnatural.

Tell her that discriminating on the basis of someone's sexual preferences is what's wrong.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 3

driftawaay

3

Why didn't you just tell her off? Did you nod and smile... ? There isn't anything special you should do, idiots are everywhere, so if you're unfortunate enough to be in the same room as them and they say something stupid, put them in their place and move on. You tell her to STFU and she won't say homophobic things to you again. :h:

Reply 4

Sir Candour

10

If she is hurling it at you, unwarrented, unprovoked, as harrasment: report her to your boss.

If the lady just spoke her opinion as part of conversation: tut, shake your head, and continue with your life. Debate her even; do anything that doesn't equate to you punishing her for having an alternative view.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 5

driftawaay

3

Original post by Plantagenet Crown

Inform her that homosexuality is not a choice and present in many animal species, therefore not wrong.

Tell her that discriminating on the basis of someone's sexual preferences is what's wrong.

But homophobes don't have the mental capacity to understand complex explanations like that...

Reply 6

Chief Wiggum

20

I think you should have told you why you disagree, if it was important to you.

I don't think there's really anything you can do about it now...

Reply 7

zyzzyspirit

14

Original post by Treeroy

What should I do?

Move on with your life.

Reply 8

Akamega

13

Original post by iamthetruth

How is that homophobic? That is her opinion and she's entitled to it. I agree with her.

She can have and state her bigoted opinions outside of work. Now, she's a bigot AND unprofessional for being homophobic whilst representing her employer in the work place. If OP were to pursue it the employer would have to act because they don't want to labelled as homophobic. So no, she's not entitled to say **** like that, and I bet you wouldn't defend her if she said "black people are _____".

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 9

driftawaay

3

Original post by Treeroy

I wanted to smack her...

Wait that's actually a good idea...

Reply 10

driftawaay

3

Original post by Akamega

I bet you wouldn't defend her if she said "black people are _____".

He probably would, racism and homophobia often go together

Reply 11

Betelgeuse-

19

Original post by Treeroy

At work today, we have a woman who is in our store every saturday morning, we pay her to make balloons and facepaint for customers with little kids. I talked to her for the first time today and she said something homophobic to me ("it's just wrong to be gay" :wink:

I wanted to smack her... I do not tolerate homophobia at all and especially not at work.

What should I do? She is not a normal employee she is almost like a 'contractor' person I guess.

If you're going to take issue with every idiot you encounter in your life, you're going to lead a miserable existence

Reply 12

tamara98

2

As long as it doesn't interfere with her work, I don't know if you can do anything about it. It would be a good idea to have a casual chat about it during a break for instance, but try to keep your relation professional.

Reply 13

driftawaay

3

Homophobes think being homophobic means being scared of gay people. Like, unless you run the opposite direction when you see Elton John on Oxford Street, you cannot be homophobic.

Reply 14

Hevachan

15

I think you should talk to your manager and say that discriminatory opinions should not be expressed in the work environment as it's unprofessional

Reply 15

Veggiechic6

14

That's not homophobia. That's her opinion and she's entitled to it. Stop trying to label people's opinions. Just because you disagree with her doesn't make her opinion any less valid than yours. Homophobia would be if she said she hates gay people, wanted to kill them because they were gay etc.

Reply 16

driftawaay

3

Original post by Veggiechic6

That's not homophobia. That's her opinion and she's entitled to it. Stop trying to label people's opinions. Just because you disagree with her doesn't make her opinion any less valid than yours. Homophobia would be if she said she hates gay people, wanted to kill them because they were gay etc.

another homophobe spotted

Reply 17

iamthetruth

1

Original post by Akamega

She can have and state her bigoted opinions outside of work. Now, she's a bigot AND unprofessional for being homophobic whilst representing her employer in the work place. If OP were to pursue it the employer would have to act because they don't want to labelled as homophobic. So no, she's not entitled to say **** like that, and I bet you wouldn't defend her if she said "black people are _____".

People should have the freedom to say that at work I thought this is a free country. So now we can't say certain things because we are afraid of what people might think? What's even worse is that some people would want you fired for saying that. They want to deny you the chance to provide for your family. The hypocrisy is that they are allowed to talk about their sexuality and how gay they are but if we say we are against it then we are told to shut up. If that's the case then they shouldn't be allowed to publicize their sexuality.

Reply 18

Rorschach II

20

@Treeroy if you can socially engineer it, I'd happily debate with her over email. :h:

Original post by iamthetruth

How is that homophobic? That is her opinion and she's entitled to it. I agree with her.

...and in other news, you're stupid.

Original post by Plantagenet Crown

Inform her that homosexuality is not a choice and present in many animal species, therefore not wrong.

Tell her that discriminating on the basis of someone's sexual preferences is what's wrong.

Sorry, but I must disagree with "is present in many animal species, therefore not wrong" because that's appealing to nature.

Homosexuality isn't wrong because it doesn't negatively affect the parties involved (slight over-simplification of how to determine whether something is wrong here, but that's the gist of it), and homophobia becomes a more pressing issue when it causes the increased depression rates and suicide rates etc.

To clarify, I agree that it isn't wrong by any means, just not for those reasons.