HOME OPHOBIA!
Christians ban house viewing by gay couple
A COUPLE who thought they’d found their dream home were told they couldn’t even view it – because they are gay.
Luke Whitehouse and Lachlan Mantell emailed to arrange a viewing of the £650,000, three-bed, semi-detached cottage in Surrey through online estate agent Purplebricks. The owners replied: ‘Would you mind telling us a bit about your position and circumstances when you have a moment please?’
Lachlan happily replied: ‘I’m a 37-yearold TV producer for ITV and Luke is a 33-year-old business owner in education.’
Devout Christians Luke Main and wife Dr Joanna Brunker, 34 – a Cambridge university medical physicist – wrote back: ‘Dear Lachlan and Luke, thank you for sharing your circumstances with us.
‘We’re sorry if we seem intrusive, but we just want to make clear that we would be unwilling for two men in a partnership to view or buy our house as it is contrary to the gracious teaching in God’s Word, the Holy Bible, e.g. Romans 1:24-28 and Jude 7 (King James Version). With regards.’
They sent bible passages about Sodom and Gomorrah, including: ‘Therefore God gave them over in sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.’
It went on: ‘In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.
‘Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves due penalty for their error.’ Luke said: ‘Initially for the first ten seconds I laughed. I thought it was a joke. But then I was upset and angry and I had a cry on the phone to my mum.
‘Homophobia still exists, it is still out there. I did not see it coming. I was blindsided by it. Since I came out eight years ago I’ve not come across discrimination. I probably have been discriminated against but was just not aware of it.’
Luke reported the response to the online estate agents, who were advertising the cottage via Rightmove.
Purplebricks has now apologised and stopped marketing the property, saying the owners’ comments are against its ‘views and values’.
It added: ‘We’ll refund this seller’s fee as Purplebricks no longer wish to list it.’
Contacted by MailOnline, builder Mr Main, 33, said he would have to discuss the matter with his wife, but added: ‘Not that we’re ashamed of what we said in any way.’