If you are Canadian or an American living within 4-6 hours of the Canadian border, it is probable that you have at some point been to or at the very least heard of Tim Horton’s. It’s the go-to establishment for coffee, timbits (which is Canadian for “doughnut holes”) and interaction with other human beings in this cold cruel world. And starting now, it is yet another sphere in which lesbians are unwelcome!
Riley Duckworth and her partner Patricia Pattenden were semiregular customers of a Blenheim, Ontario Tim Horton’s. One day in early October, they were “outside drinking coffee with a group of family and friends” which really sounds like an idyllic Tim Horton’s commercial, no? Apparently the franchise felt differently. The couple reported that they saw a man watching them from inside the restaurant as they had their arms around each other’s waists and “kissed on the cheek once or twice.” A few minutes later, a manager came outside and told them to leave in the next five minutes or he’d call the cops. “The manager said that our behaviour was inappropriate and that it was a family friendly establishment and it wasn’t acceptable there,” Duckworth said.”
Not wanting to “create a scene,” the couple left. Not before a local pastor held a prayer circle in the parking lot, however, with the apparent goal of praying for the couple’s souls. (Some reports say the pastor in question was Rev. Eric Revie of Glad Tidings Community Church.) Same-sex marriage has been legal in Canada since 2005 – how is it possible that a young couple still can’t get a cup of coffee without inciting an as-of-yet-unconfirmed gay panic prayer circle and being kicked out?
Tim Hortons’ response has been mixed; on the one hand, they never meant to “offend or target anyone based on their sexual orientation,” but still maintain that “The guests’ behaviour went beyond public displays of affection and was making other guests feel uncomfortable.” Although the store says it’s apologized to the couple and invited them back, Duckworth says she hasn’t been contacted directly by anyone from Tim Horton’s, and is never going back to any of the company’s franchises.
What’s the reaction been? The Canadian Press says a demonstration is scheduled for this week, Thursday the 27th:
A Facebook group was created Sunday evening calling for a demonstration outside the outlet on Thursday that will be attended by friends, family and supporters including members of Pride Chatham-Kent. By late Monday morning, several hundred people had joined the Facebook group.
The demonstration is being called (at least by some) Occupy Timmies. The London Free Press says that it may even spread beyond Blenheim:
Organizers of the protest, called Occupy Timmies, say the manager talked to the couple after a local minister “stared them down,” complained to the manager and held an impromptu prayer service for the couple in the parking lot… Those who can’t make it are being urged to protest outside Tim Hortons in their own city as a show of solidarity. Staff at the Blenheim Tim Hortons referred calls to the chain’s head office.
Back in 2009, Tim Horton’s participated in an event called “Celebrate Marriage & Family Day” with none other than the National Organization for marriage, providing 250 free cups of coffee. However, they pulled out after receiving criticism for partnering with an anti-gay organization; they claimed they had been unaware of NOM’s mission. It wasn’t exactly their anti-gay policies that caused Tim Horton’s to withdraw, however; instead, they explained in a statement that they didn’t sponsor or support “political organizations” and NOM fell “outside their sponsorship guidelines.”
While Tim Horton’s is a privately owned establishment (a subsidiary of a US firm, in fact), it’s also Canada’s largest fast-food establishment, and has been described as a “Canadian cultural icon.” Is this enough to cause a rift between Canada’s most beloved coffee purveyor and the LGBT community? It’s certainly done so for Duckworth and Pattenden, who say they’re not willing to forgive and forget anytime soon. “We want to make sure this won’t happen again to anybody else because it’s wrong and it should have never happened in the first place.”
UPDATE: Rev. Eric Revie has shared that he in fact mistook Duckworth and Pattenden for a heterosexual couple, and was complaining to the manager about PDA in general, not acting out of homophobia. He also says that what Duckworth and Pattenden described as a prayer circle was actually “parents chatting.” He’s received threats since this story broke, and still maintains that the women “had hands on body parts they shouldn’t have,” while “Duckworth said Pattenden’s mother was sharing the bench with the couple so they wouldn’t have dreamed of doing anything offensive.”
So…when does Chick-Fil-A start serving Tim Horton’s coffee?
Just after the establishment of Universal Healthcare, and Shortly before National Legislation for Same Sex Marriage.
I have to say (at least here on the East Coast) that the folks at Timmies are usually pretty nice, and don’t seem to care who you are, as long as you aren’t in line anymore. I don’t think that the actions of one store manager will deter me from my occasional apple cider/hot chocolate, or Tim’s sponsored event. There are good store managers too! Like the ones in downtown Halifax who put up rainbow flags in their windows for pride week, or the ones in Fredericton, who ARE members of the community. Not saying we should trust the answer we got on NOM, just reminding that there are lots of store managers out there with the right idea too!
my cousin works at a tim hortons in halifax, and when i came out to him he said “i dont care as long as you still want to be my best friend.”
so, there’s that.
This makes me feel torn… I’m Canadian and have Timmies on a regular basis(multiple times a day if I’m on campus)… Obviously what happened is horrible but at the same time it happened at a small town Tim Horton’s, by some stupid pastor and manager. But due to the popularity of Tim Horton’s I don’t see these protests being very successful…
Yeah… I just can’t shake my Tim’s addiction. Also the girl who works at the close to me on campus is cute. And maybe gay.
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t think this campaign would be constructive. I’m queer, but I also used to work at a Tim Hortons.
The prevailing feeling working there, especially in a recession, is that you are utterly disposable and that if you make a stink, they’ll fire you and find a replacement in 2 days. The comfort of the most amount of customers possible was THE most important thing. Most of the people that stick around long enough to work up to management are poorly-paid single mothers, usually lower class or an ethnic minority or both. The front line workers are usually people that are too young or too old to find a better job. If this situation had progressed further, and a district manager had come in, you better believe that the on-site manager would have had a world of shit on his head. Your own morals often cannot enter into it. At my Timmies, a couple of the employees wore hijabs and were sometimes harassed by customers (You can’t serve me, get out of Canada, etc) and felt powerless to do anything about it. I was never around first hand, but I was fortunate enough that if I were there at the time, I could afford to lose the job to tell the racists to shove it up their butts. Not everyone can.
So in this situation, what happened is likely the manager saw a crowd forming around two people, and to avoid escalating the situation, chose the wrong, but probably easier, option of asking the smaller group to leave. If he had asked the other group to leave, guaranteed they would be more difficult to remove, and there would be a letter writing campaign on the issue of ‘religious liberty.’ As a symptom of living in kyriarchy, we often do what we need to survive. Maybe he was actually homophobic, I don’t know, but I see the dynamics of the economy trapping him. Of the three options (ignore the situation, ask the lesbian couple to leave, ask the prayer group to leave) there was likely nothing he could have chosen that wouldn’t have resulted in his getting in trouble. This is not to excuse homophobic behavior, but if you want to address it, a better course of action would be for 1. Tim Hortons to have a specific policy for dealing with these sorts of confrontations and 2. better job protections, so people feel more confident to stand up to customers’ shit instead of playing submissive to keep their sorely-needed jobs. Making an example of this man can only go so far.
Beyond what happened at this specific location, I really, really don’t see harassing minimum wage frontline employees at unrelated locations for a mistake a manager made elsewhere to be productive. If you think it’s a systemic problem with the company, I’d rather you take it up with head office rather than messing with the lives of unconnected (likely) economically disadvantaged people working jobs that give them very little power.
Agreed. Also, I worked at Tim Horton’s in high school. Tim Horton’s is awesome. One time a co-worker of mine was serving two girls, lesbians, who kissed right in front of her. She apparently got offended (she sucked anyway, super annoying) and walked away in the middle of preparing their order. So without skipping a beat, I took over and finished making their order for them. It just so happened some douche was working at the Tim Horton’s there. And it so happened that my co-worker sucked and I’m awesome. I don’t think there’s a corporate policy here. Some people are just assholes and corporate wants to get as least involved with this sort of he-said she-said shit as possible.
Ok, and I know this is in the comment policy, and I would like to privately message the mods about this but I don’t know how, but I would like assurance that my email can’t be revealed. I don’t really want to be exposed talking shit about a former employer :P
You have to register as a member to PM someone, but you can also check out the contact page and email a team member if you like. Regardless, no one will reveal your email address.
Hi JfC! Your email will never ever be revealed by us to an outside party. Ever. Thanks for asking!
I saw this the other day on my university queer group’s page, and frankly, I’m more apalled at the FUCKING PRAYER CIRCLE than the managers responding to customer complaint. It sucks that homophobes complained, but I blame them, not Tim’s, for what happened.
Honestly, I can’t understand the point of view that this is not worth demonstrating over. I think that the way that they feel about the LGBT community is apparent by both their actions and their responses. No matter how many people I’m upsetting by kissing my girlfriend or holding her hand or even making out with her, they shouldn’t throw me out of the restaurant unless I am exposing myself or something of that nature. This is bullshit: The guests’ behavior went beyond public displays of affection and was making other guests feel uncomfortable”. I think that LGBT people have to show that they have to be treated with respect and maybe managers will think twice before either being homophobic or bowing to the wishes of homophobic customers. If it’s always the religious group who is going to kick up the biggest fuss, LGBT people are going to keep getting kicked out of restaurants.
I think this is worth action, I just don’t think demonstrating at frontline stores is effective or fair action. Lean on head office, don’t bother low level minimum wage workers that have nothing to do with it.
I do certainly agree that “think of the children” and the cultural double standard about PDA are bullshit, though. It really makes my blood boil.
It’s not actually being called “Occupy Tim Horton’s”, right?
If so, I give up.
I’m super pissed about this. I live in California now but there are more then 10 Tim Horton’s in my hometown. However, like someone said previously, I don’t think the actions of one manager (in a small town in Ontario) should determine how anyone feels about the entire franchise.
Maybe after some angry letter writing and negative publicity Tim Horton’s will issue an apology, fire the manager and sponsor PrideTO 2012………..got it Tim Horton’s? /cracks knuckles
This is SO weird, because I go to Tim Horton’s all the time – there is one in the gay Village in Montreal, just in front of the metro station Beaudry, and it has gay flags and everything… So yeah. I think it has more to do with that particular manager than the whole chain maybe ?
It is most definitely 100% the Manager, not the chain to blame. I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and we literally have a tim’s on every corner and that’s where we usually chill. Hearing this is another disappointment. At my work, we rent apartments to students, and a lesbian couple have lived there for a long time, and one of the girls got fired from canadian tire for the exact same deal.
She was just casually talking and happened to reference her girlfriend in a conversation like anyone else would, a cashier complained and that manager also said it wasn’t appropriate.It’s near 2012..ridiculous.
i’m really disappointed that this happened, but i feel like tim horton’s is so huge in canada that it must be the manager rather than the company itself. also i feel like working at tim horton’s is probably a hard+shitty job, and i imagine that it attracts the same kind of workers who work at mcdonald’s. instead of worrying about customer satisfaction (because customers know what they’re getting) it’s more like “make this line go away”.
there are at least 4 tim horton’s within 2 minutes of each other at my campus.
i was in the one on guy & de maisonneuve this morning when i heard about this. suddenly my bacon timatin ran cold. but alas, my timmy’s love persists.
is ‘occupy-everything-that-does-us-wrong’ really going to be a thing now? because while I support the basic reasoning and all, couldn’t they think of some other word/phrase?
yeah i’m super not down with this trend.
What many of the news sources don’t seem to mention is that the couple was with a group of family and friends, including two of their parents. So a lot of people seem to be saying “Well, what exactly were they doing? Were they sucking face, because that’s not fun to watch, regardless if they’re gay or straight.” BUT would you really suck your partner’s face in front of your mom, just outside of a Tim Horton’s? Methinks not. And this preacher guy is a wingnut in a little conservative pocket of Southwestern Ontario.
None of this is ok but I would not blame the actions of a couple idiots on an entire franchise.
Uh, you guys, I don’t know where you’ve been, but Tim Hortons has like the worst PR ever and this is just one in a long line of similar racist/ableist/basically douchey behaviour of the company/their employees. So yes, I do blame the franchise.
Some nice sources and examples you got there.
Tim Hortons won’t let homeless people eat inside
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/429178
Tim Hortons fires employee (single mother) after giving away timbit to a little kid
http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/422936
“No Drunken Indians Allowed” sign on drive thru window
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20070530/tim_hortons_boycott_070530/
1. Misleading. The woman was allowed to eat inside, just one of the employees (not even a manager) was a jackass and bitched about it. The previous times she’d been asked to leave were because she was disruptive. Removing her then was fair.
2. She was rehired at another Tim Horton’s, which actually reflects well on TM. Like with the lesbians this incident was due to one shitty manager. Hardly representative of the whole.
3. Again, this was the act of a single employee (a teenager) and she was disciplined. Both Tim Horton’s and the employee apologized.
So you’re 0/3 on “douchey” behavior from the company, wanna try again?
Protip: Idiocy of individual employees don’t count.
“Protip: Idiocy of individual employees don’t count.”
Actually, the reason management has to apologize and issue statements and clean up after themselves is because the acts of individual employees DO count. They represent the company, they do the company’s work and as a collective they make up the brand itself. It’s up to senior level positions to create the atmosphere and values within the company to ensure that the employees know what’s up.
This excuse of “well it’s just an individual person” never makes sense to me. It’s like the “Well, that was ONE cop who beat up the protester” excuse, rather than looking at the systemic issues behind it. I think it’s clear that Tim Horton’s is not communicating a certain standard of public relations to its team. My opinion.
But also– chill with the hostility, Raef! You must really love your iced capps.
Eh. Then we’re just set with differing opinions. The acts of individual employees would define TH if they weren’t punished or fired for their actions. And since the bad employees usually get punished I see no issue with the company itself.
That’s also what differentiates this situation from cops; the managers/employees are getting punished but a shitty cop usually just gets a slap on the wrist.
As far as issues behind it, TH is fucking huge. Don’t know exactly how many people it employs (over 100,000), but 5 or 6 bad ones isn’t unreasonable.
And… I’m not gonna get into the police. I hate cops and there’s no way I’d ever be able to look at them fairly. But allowing us to video on-duty cops would be a step in the right direction.
Also I’m gonna apologize for coming across as hostile. Shitty night. Stand by my points though.
But I dislike coffee. In all forms.
We all get a bit worked up with Tim Hortons is involved.
Ugh. A prayer circle in the parking lot? Really? What’s next, sprinkling holy water in their coffee? Although with that bitter sewer sludge that Tim Hortons attempts to pass off as coffee, maybe the holy water would be an improvement.
I don’t get the obsession. I might stop there for coffee if I’m at school and seriously desperate for a caffeine fix, but I find it pretty horrifying that they’ve managed to make themselves such an integral part of Canada’s image, seeing as they’re nothing more than a fast food restaurant that happened to be founded in Canada by a Canadian hockey player.
They’ll go for the stealth baptism, toss some water while they’re walking by
Honestly, I feel the exact same way I feel with the Cam/Leisha thing. In both instances, I love the companies accused of hating gay people (Southwest and Tim Hortons). In both cases, I blame an overzealous manager/employee who needs to get a life. In both cases, I’m not entirely sure if I can 100% believe the couple when they say they were acting innocently. In both cases, I think it’s unfortunate.
The prayer circle adds another dimension though — is the Tim Horton’s parking lot an appropriate place to have a prayer circle? And yet, protesting Tim Hortons by standing outside of Tim Hortons seems like a retarded idea to me. I think we need to register our disapproval with Tim Hortons, mean it when we say we won’t stand for it, but just move on for now until we need to do something useful in getting Timmy Hoes’ attention again.
“The prayer circle adds another dimension though — is the Tim Horton’s parking lot an appropriate place to have a prayer circle?”
Assuming Canada’s freedom of speech/religion laws are anything like ours, there’s nothing wrong with it. And really, it’d be wrong to say they can’t exercise their right to religion/speech where they want. No matter how much you or I might disagree.
“And yet, protesting Tim Hortons by standing outside of Tim Hortons seems like a retarded idea to me.”
Just like how OWS protesting by Wall Street/ government buildings is retarded, amirite?
But seriously, if they want people (and Tim Horton’s) to know they’re pissed off at Tim Horton’s, then the best place to protest is visibly in front of Tim Horton’s.
That said, I agree with JfC and think this incident should be left alone.
“Just like how OWS protesting by Wall Street/ government buildings is retarded, amirite?” Well, honestly, yes. As a liberal, I think the Occupy Wall Street protests are dumb, but not because they are standing outside buildings. At least in their case they are hoping to draw attention to something (what? They don’t even know. Let’s pretend it’s bank control of the government) and get Congress to act. They are getting lots of coverage, shutting down streets, forcing people to pay attention to an issue that is a big problem that affects all of us. We have no choice in what is happening with bank de-regulation. The banks are fucking us and we just have to take it. Now, in Tim Horton’s case, what is a small group of people standing outside a local franchise that everyone has a CHOICE to either patronize or not patronize going to do? Annoy the kids making $5.75 an hour? Irritate the manager who manages a Tim Horton’s for a living and really doesn’t need to deal with their crap? Write letters, call, protest the head offices, or stop buying Tim Horton’s products. But leave the local franchises alone. It’s stupid and makes us look silly. And comparing this to occupy Wall Street is even sillier, quite frankly.
And going to the earlier part, my point was that Tim Horton’s supposedly had a problem with two lesbians being in their midst, but not a prayer circle. Moreover, a Tim Horton’s parking lot is still private property. Let me connect the dots for you: I was implying Tim Horton’s may have exercised a double standard by being OK with the prayer group but not gay people. I was not pondering whether a parking lot is the ideal location for a prayer group.
1. Chill. You’re always so hostile, no need for that.
2. You were not clear when you called protesting outside TM “retarded”. You made it sound like standing near that which you’re protesting is stupid, which is what I was refuting. As I already said, I think this incident should mostly be left alone.
3. Again you were very unclear regarding the prayer circle. If you meant to say that they were showing a double-standard, then that’s what you should have said. What was there sounded judgmental and controlling, like saying they should not pray in X location.
So really, it’s like this:
—> What you actually mean by what you say
—> What you come off as saying
The two don’t always match up. Which is what happened with your OP. (That said, I imagine more insults regarding my capacity for reading comprehension are coming).
But I think you’re confusing Tim Horton’s with the customers who go there. They were the ones supposedly complaining about the lesbians, and they were the ones that had a problem with gays. This is exactly like the situation with Southwest, where people complained about gays and the employees made a judgement call and sided with the complainers.
Also, considering how sensitive you claimed to be before about using offensive language your use of “retarded” seems hypocritical. After all, there is still prejudice and discrimination towards mentally handicapped people, which according to you should make words like retarded unacceptable.
I was kind of a dick. I thought I was pretty clear and I get annoyed when people assume I said things I clearly did not and seem to be unable to use deduction or inference, but maybe I didn’t spell it out enough. And yes, I fully realize that using the word “retarded” can be viewed as hypocritical as I’m extremely against racist words, homophobic words, etc. but that’s really the correct place to get into a discussion about that word or why I chose to use it, so I won’t. Anyway, a Tim Hortons staffer was ultimately the person who asked the couple to leave. We can’t police what people complain about. We can disagree, but it’s very much out of the realm of things that would at all be affected by a protest on Tim Hortons.
No. Some bullshit excuse like “this is not a good place for this discussion” is not good enough. Saying your words can be “viewed as hypocritical” is not good enough either, because you are denying responsibility for what you say. You are going to take full responsibility for your hypocrisy right now or explain convincingly why words like dyke and nigger are never ever okay but your casual and disparaging use of retarded is perfectly fine.
Also, FYI: you’re still coming across as a condescending dick.
It is pretty clear that you use it because you think your bigotry is valid bigotry, which is the same as pretty much any other bigot.
Not really an issue, but NOBODY in Canada makes that little money. So, give credit to the Timmy Ho’s who make 9 bucks an hour.
Gah. Invade us, Canada. We wish to be ruled by you.
/makes $6 per hour
Workin’ on it lol
True fact: Emily Choo had never heard of doughtnut holes before I talked about them. She just called them timbits.
I support Emily. I didn’t what the fuck donut holes were either. “You mean the whole in the middle of a donut…?”
yes thank you
how are you supposed to know if a doughnut hole is literally a doughnut hole?
furthermore, how can it actually be a hole? a hole is a hole is an empty space. i am thinking about this too much.
No, I’m totally with you. I also accept “Robin Eggs” from their competitor, but doughnut hole is just a paradox. Which means it’s wrong.
That’s why they’re called Timbits!
That’s adorable.
Also, I’ve read the article and I’m now reading the comments and it’s actually just NOW reading that comment that I’m realizing the connection between “Tim Hortons” and timbits…I thought maybe Canadians were just crazy and just made up a completely random word for donut holes.
Despite the randomness of our names, they usually have logic. eg. Loonies have loons on them.
I LIVED IN CANADA FOR 7 YEARS AND NEVER KNEW THAT.
I probably shouldn’t announce that in a forum where I wish to be regarded as somewhat intelligent.
I mean also I was between the ages of 4 and 10 during my stay in Canada so maybe it’s excusable?
But for serious, you just changed my life.
(I loved telling my USA friends about loonies and even better, toonies/twonies. Oh, Canada. You will always have my heart.)
*Toonies
I remember when those coins were coming out, and the debate was between Toonie or something reflect to the polar bear on it. The rhyme-scheme won lol
You’re doing a fine job spreading a little cultural literacy about Canada to our neighbours! Carry on :)
Instead of organizing protests can we PLLLLLLLEASE have kiss-ins everywhere? At Target, at Chick-fil-A, at Tim Hortons, at Southwest….
They are having a kiss-in! :D
http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/Pastor_says_couple_were_basically_having_sex_at_Tim_Hortons-10963.aspx
This is why we need better sex education for everyone. Kissing =/= sex.
Good grief, the couple showed marvellous self-restraint there. I would’ve gone and punched the pastor in his stupid face.
STARBUCKS 4 LYF.
No. While Tim Horton’s is apparently bad at hiring good managers, Starbucks is genuinely evil. Not its employees.
Someone has never had an extra coffee caramel frappucino.
i never thought autostraddle would be using the london free press as a news source.
my hometown just got way cooler.
Also, having been to this particular Tim Hortons on a couple of occasions (my mother used to own a cottage around there), it is the type of place where queers would draw a bunch of attention.
That part of Ontario is a really rural, Conservative, farm country kinda place. Not that it makes any of this okay. I’m just adding some context.
It doesn’t make it OK, but it is certainly relevant. We want to pretend all Tim Horton’s, or all schools, or all towns, etc. are the same. But there is a reason why there are states/provinces, counties, cities, towns. They make their own local rules because they see the world differently. Now, discrimination is not right and I think any civil rights limitations need to be addressed on a national level and stopped outright, but this is important issue of context is important. The homophobic guy at this Tim Horton’s does not equal every manager at every Tim Horton’s ever, nor does it make it OK when there are isolated incidences of homophobic Tim Horton’s managers. The main thing here is the company response. Again, just as I felt with Southwest, Tim Horton’s is bound to taking the manager’s side and believing his version of events… PR-wise, legally, and in terms of shit to clean up. Tim Horton’s wants to just move on from this. Can I blame them?
The closest establishment to me is a Tim Hortons/Cold Stone. Is it possible to boycott half a building?
Just make it clear– “I’M NOT TALKING TO YOU TIM HORTON’S, I’M JUST HERE FOR MY ICE CREAM!!!”
I would do that
Nanaimo?
I didn’t know what Cold Stone was until I moved here.
I am so confused by the attitude in most of these posts. Discrimination is okay if it’s in a rural area? Discrimination is okay if they were kissing? Discrimination is okay if it isn’t happening to me?
Two women were thrown out of a branch of a national franchise by the manager (not some random employee) and people don’t understand why this is a big deal, why the store in question should be protested, or why people should protest outside other stores to lean on the head office to address this situation? Who is supposed to care if not us?
I don’t get it. Why are we arguing for the homophobes? They can actually do that for themselves. We should probably be arguing for the people being discriminated against, since they could be any of us. Do you not care about being able to kiss your girlfriend in public without being thrown out of somewhere?
Do not get it.
People here aren’t saying discrimination’s ok or that they don’t care about this. They’re just saying that protesting outside of random TH is the wrong way to do protest.
“Beyond what happened at this specific location, I really, really don’t see harassing minimum wage frontline employees at unrelated locations for a mistake a manager made elsewhere to be productive. If you think it’s a systemic problem with the company, I’d rather you take it up with head office rather than messing with the lives of unconnected (likely) economically disadvantaged people working jobs that give them very little power.”
Is really all you need.
Fun Fact: Tim Horton’s is owned by Wendy’s, and has been for something like 10 years now.
I don’t live near any Tim Hortons anymore and I never eat at Wendy’s anyway… but if I did, I’d surely boycott both at least until their head office has released some kind of official statement/apology.
OMIGOD THAT’S WHY THEY’RE PAIRED WITH WENDY’S. I think it’s funny that the only way you can find a Wendy’s is if it’s attached with a Tim’s.
Just as long as I don’t have to occupy Dunkin Donuts. America probably doesn’t actually run on Dunkins, but Boston sure does.
Uh, are you guys all American or something? I randomly googled “Tim Hortons Lesbians” looking for the CBC article since Blenheim only gets a newspaper once a week.
Yeah, I live in Blenheim and attend high school there. I could literally get up, walk out right now and go to that same Tim Hortons. It’d take five minutes or so.
First of all: There. Was. No. Prayer. Circle. However, a guy was totally stabbed there a long time ago.
Secondly, the minister’s church is gay friendly, compared to the church I actually go to. Yes, I know openly gay people who go there.
Blenheim is, for the most part, a pretty secular town.It’s got enough trouble as it is with the economy and those damn kids who keep snorting crack behind my house.
wait WHAT THE FUCK? this sounds like the restaurant i used to love in new jersey, but it wasn’t a tim horton’s, but this still makes me sad. i don’t even want to google ‘ihop’ right now.
I’m calling bullshit on this story. Something’s not right.
(But first of all I’d like to say how I LOVE that any story mentioning Timmy’s get alllll the Canadians out and name-dropping their TiHo locations – LOVE IT. And I’m being serious. I live in the States now and I’m drinking out of a Timmy’s travel mug as I type this. Represent. Their coffee tastes like shit but damn if I don’t get excited when I see my first timmy’s when I get home.)
Okay anyway, in the updated CBC article (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/story/2011/10/26/wdr-pastor-reacts-tim-hortons-lesbians.html) the pastor is saying they were groping, straddling, and french kissing each other, and the girls say they were sitting next to one of their mothers and kissed on the cheek. The discrepancy there is staggering. Somebody’s making shit up or embellishing, maybe they both are. Either way I’m skeptical. It doesn’t bode well with me. And I don’t believe the prayer circle thing. I really don’t.
I’m also actually inclined to believe the pastor when he says that he mistook them for a straight couple; getting mistaken for a boy at a small town Ontario Tim Horton’s? That’s pretty much the story of my life and I’d venture that it’s possible (possible!) the pastor was just being a huge prude and not a huge homophobe.
My guess is that the girls did some kind of kissing thing, the pastor guy saw it, his delicate morals were offended, he complained about it to management, and they got booted. The girls assumed (understandably) that they were getting booted because they’re lesbians, and here we are.
I mean thank god they weren’t DANCING.
FOOTLOOSE! jk
That makes a lot more sense, especially with the mistaken-boy thing.
(And yes, I realize I’m posting here like 20+ times, but this is something I can relate to!!)
I’m not quite sure boycotting Tim Horton’s (unless it is that specific one) would do much to be honest. My first job (and my brother’s) was at Tim Horton’s and although I wasn’t anywhere close to being out I had a decent experience there. My trans boyfriend worked at one for three years and went through hell (he wasn’t out as trans but was out as gay) not necessarily because of his perceived orientation but because the family that ran it was basically batshit crazy.
From my experience, because almost anyone can buy a Tim Horton’s restaurant if they have enough money so it is all up to the people who own it as far as in-store policy, treatment of employees/customers, etc. What would probably be more effective would be going over the owner’s head and making a complaint to district management who would probably be more concerned about the negative publicity and a human rights violation, since this is Canada after all.
Either way, it is ridiculous that there is still such a double standard when it comes to PDA for same-sex couples in this day and age.
I had a dream that I had sex with Canada…personified as a sexy lady, it was good.
I woke up and thought of all the Canadian AutoStraddlers and felt today will be a good day (and it was gurrrl I got free gluten free scones!).
This story makes me sad but the Canadians on this post makes me happy.
GLUTEN FREE SCONES??????!!
That’s why I felt so awesome waking up yesterday morning…
I’m drinking my medium double-double as I read this….
This is completely a false arguement… the incident is not related to sexual orientation at all rather then conduct… there is not a double standard held at this Tim Horton’s location at all. As far as any one individual… that is anywhere… but most small towns are traditional in nature and do not tolerate this on any two individuals regardless of orientation or creed.
Wouldn’t tolerate a kiss on the cheek from anyone? Shit, I’m from a town so small there are no out people, and even it isn’t that conservative.
Currently studying with nothing but a Tim Horton’s near by for a lunch run. Ugh.
But it’s a Tim Horton’s on Church street, so I think I’m okay to gay it up, aren’t I?
The other pastor of that church has a bisexual daughter. Why are these girls accusing this church of being discriminant, it makes no sense. Wow these girls are making themselves look pretty stupid.