A woman was the one who verbally abused them? Anyone catch the sweet irony of her gratuitous use of the word "bitch" and "cocksucker"? Haha, this is almost as hilarious as it is sad.

Wow - just last weekend, we had a group of teens here in Iowa using slang and slurrs, and when chased away, they came back throwing bricks. I thought we were done with all this. Legislatures discriminate, not regular people, right?

Okay, sarcasm aside, there is part of me that is surprised when things like this happen. I have never really understood racism, homophobia, or other isms and ias. Not deep down, anyway. Intellectually, I get it, but emotionally I am just not keyed that way.

I do pray that I am never in that store, 'cause I might have to go in drag and whoop it up just for her! And while I would feel better personally, I would only "prove" to her what bad people we all are, so i just had better stay away!

What's doubly unfortuate about the incident is that such conduct should be immediate cause for firing and apology even if it weren't prohibited by laws/ordinances like the one in Louisville. It's called treating the customer, any customer, or anyone who is a guest in the establishement, with dignity and respect.

Let's stage an eat-in! Get a group of queery-queer-queers and go down there and all order the cheapest shit on the menu (pies?), then stay for hours. Maybe pass out literature. Gay tracts! Bring the kiddies and friends, not be too loud, but definitely be OUT.

Eh? What thinks ye all?

I've been noticing some of the new McDonald's commercials looks like they seem to be introducing "Gansta Food" into their menues, based on the customers they seem to be targeting. It might be a mindset that is seeping into their employees as well.

Worst of all, they misrepresent a minority. Latino's, as the average ignorant American would like to believe, are not perceived under a geographical context, but rather a racial one. The expectation is the indigenous/zambo look, which only represents a fraction of Hispanics. Of course, you'll be hard-pressed to find any American whose view of Hispanics transcends that of the stereotypical indigenous Mexican or Puerto Rican. Diversity, as defined by Hispanic's status as an ETHNICITY, is completely crossed out.

Heck, what they label as Latins here has NO resemblance whatsoever to the actual Hispanic man. It's an awfully stereotypical and shortsighted representation.

The unfortunate part of this episode is that such treatment of customers ought to be punished, apologies accepted, and refund/compensation paid even if there were not specific human rights measure as exists in Louisville. It's called "respect".

So I'm certainly not condoning or excusing what happened, or MacDonalds generally when I observe further that I'm not aware of any kind of pattern of such conduct/treatment of LTBT customers regionally or nationwide. Not, for example, like that which sparked litigation and reform Denny's experienced several years ago. I don't know if the store in question was company owned or a franchise operation, and it really ought not to make a difference insofar as an appropriate corporate MacDonald's is concerned. But from what's happened so far I don't think the beginnings of a nationwide move against MacDonalds should be anywhere near the planning stage at this point.

Ooh, Ooh, and if we stage an eat-in, we can order the "Faggot Fries," 'cause the French just aren't gay enough!

Seriously, if anybody is interested, just email me. mel(dot)artemisia(at)gmail(dot)com I think I might go alone, anyway.

Firstly Melanie, I am going to gmail this blog to good friends of mine in Louisville. There is a considerable Gay community in town and this is a public restaurant. The local community should respond with you and deal with this locally first.

Part of basic training of any employee dealing with the public is to not make comments about customers. The "supervisor" in question is inept, probably knows it, and won't admit to a mistake. This does not rise to the level of corporate discrimination, but managerial sloppiness. The turnover of employees in fast food restaurants is so high, and the frustration of the employees is often so great, that my heart goes out to these people. Now that nearly two months has passed I imagine both the supervisor and the offending employee are gone, but even so, the apology (unlike the tomatoes) never will get stale.

Since it's my town, and since I once managed a McD's, I'd better comment.

The people insulted are doing it the right way. They're using the local law, as outlined, by going to the Human Rights Commission. If the truth is as outlined here, they will win easily. Our local government and HR commission members are fairly liberal.

As for McDonald's, the stores here are owned by the Gatti family, who were one of the first franchisees of McDonald's. The first one they opened here was in 1957. I wouldn't call the Gattis particularly enlightened; they're pretty conservative people. Still, they have plenty of GLBT people working in their stores here; just not at the East Market store. I'd be curious to know whether the store employee still works for McD's - I rather doubt he has a future there, nor does his manager.

Weird.

It's even weirder considering the working conditions and lack of living wage that these folks earn (and possibly the queers, that's not mentioned here).

Having been a retail manager myself, I agree with Robert and Polar here. This is not a corporate policy/administration problem, it's clearly an employee misbehavior problem and should be dealt with as such. That said, I'm frankly amazed that McDonald's has not been more responsive here.

When I had a similar (though not quite as blatant...I was called "Sir" repeatedly, even after correcting the person) issue years ago at a local Dunkin' Donuts, I contacted their corporate office through their website and the response to my complaint was very quick, about two days. While they would not tell me the specific action taken (nor would I expect them to), I was told that the problem was addressed and corrective was taken.

When I returned to that DD weeks afterward, I was treated with respect and as any other female customer could expect to be. The change was definite and noticeable (to me at least), and indicated to me that someone, probably the franchisee, had been read the riot act by corporate.

My suggestion here for anyone in such a situation is twofold: First, if you get no satisfaction from the store's management, contact the corporate office, first by phone if you can, second, or if you are unable to contact them or get satisfaction by phone, through the customer comment section of their website (just about every major retail corporation including restaurants has one and they are carefully monitored).

Also, if the company in question is owned by a bigger corporation, such as Burger King and KFC which are owned by Pepsi, don't hesitate to take the next step up and contact the parent company if you don't get satisfaction. The higher up the ladder you go, the more concerned about public image and bad press they are.

If you exhaust your options in this regard and still haven't gotten satisfaction, there's also the option of going public. Contact your local, state, and federal LGBT rights orgs, and shoot a call to your local newspaper. You'd be amazed at what even just one well-placed news story can do to turn things around for you on something like this.

One facet of this story that hasn't been mentioned yet is that this McD location is right next door to Tryangles, a neighborhood, bear-type gay bar. The next intersection west, and katty-cornered across it, sits The Connection, one of the largest gay discos in Louisivlle, and which is famous for its drag shows.

So, working in one of the gayest parts of town, the employees at this restaurant should all know how to behave around gay people, including drag queens.

I have been to this McDonald's several times, and sometimes my visit is OK, but about as often as not I get very poor service here, and I now tend to avoid it. As other commenters have said, there is obviously a serious management problem at this store.