Gay couple claim Greek romantic meal almost killed them
Gay men celebrating wedding anniversary in Birmingham, England, claim restaurant worker hurled homophobic abuse and threatened to cut off their legs
08 November 2012 | By Matthew Jenkin
Gay men celebrating wedding anniversary in Birmingham, England, claim worker at Athens restaurant hurled homophobic abuse and threatened to cut off their legs
A gay couple in Birmingham, England, claim they received death threats by a member of staff at a Greek restaurant where they were celebrating their wedding anniversary.
Police are investigating a complaint by 28-year-old Markus Busuttil and husband Steven, 24, who say an employee at Athens in the West Midlands city center hurled anti-gay abuse at them after a row started over the food.
The pair, who were marking one month since they married on 31 October, allegedly recorded the incident.
’Fucking queers. You should be ashamed of yourselves,’ the member of staff is alleged to have shouted, reported the Birmingham Mail.
‘We don’t like people like you in Greece. We cut off your legs. You are an embarrassment to the world.
’Your mum is a slag. I will fucking kill you. After the police, I will deal with you.’
The shocked couple told the regional paper that they fear for the safety of other customers and want to see the perpetrators brought to justice.
’I have never been subjected to abuse like that before in my life,’ Marcus said.
’We have never experienced anything like this before in Birmingham, or anywhere else. It was bizarre and surreal.
’After about 15 minutes of this terror he started to claim that we had attacked him. I thought he was a liar, so I called police and I also started to record the conversation on my phone, and I am glad that I did.
’We love how open and friendly and multicultural this city is and that is why we think this kind of behavior should be exposed.’
However, the restaurant says while the staff member did get angry and call the couple ’queers’, it was because they made ’innappropriate advances’ to a waiter.