Religious Zealots in Yackandandah (Australia) abuse A gay Couple Shopkeepers
A grandmother has stepped in to support a gay man being abused and harassed by two “religious zealots” in his own shop in Yackandandah.
Andy Stevens, who owns the Buddha Shop with Gary Hayward, was approached by two men yesterday who began filming Mr Stevens and called him a fornicator, adulterer and "the lowest of the low". The duo also made references to the Bible, The Border Mail reports.
Grandmother Bronwyn English, who stepped in to stop the incident, said it appeared the footage was being taken to upload online.
“How dare they come into a business and start spouting off, whatever their beliefs are,” she said.
"It has nothing to do with them.
"I imagine it will be splashed all over the internet on some religious channel, but I really don't care."
Ms English said the men appeared to have deliberately targeted the business and planned the incident.
"It was very distasteful," she said.
"We have a number of gay couples out here. They're just part of our community.
"We're mature enough to accept people as themselves."
The men appeared to be from out of town, Ms English said, and a car registration was given to police.
Officers were investigating the matter yesterday.
Mr Hayward said the incident was "unacceptable".
"We are about compassion, peace and kindness," he said.
"We should not have to put up with these kinds of attacks on our business and on us.
“I think the attack went on for 20 minutes to half an hour."
Mr Hayward said the company's Facebook page had been littered with abusive messages, including that "Buddha and Satan go hand in hand" and that both men were going to hell.
"To have this personal attack is just horrific," he said.
"Over the years we've dealt with a lot of hatred, but we don't give hatred back to those people.
"We feel sorry for them."
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