This guy claims he wasn’t allowed to shop in Sainsbury’s with his boyfriend because they’re gay
The couple recorded a video of their experience in Sainsbury’s (Facebook/Jake Holliday)
A gay couple who were asked to leave Sainsbury’s have claimed that they weren’t allowed to shop in the supermarket because they are gay.
Jake Holliday, 29, and his boyfriend Rhys, 24, attempted to shop in the supermarket’s Hayes branch in London. They made the trip together as both were doing separate food shops for their mothers.
Midway through their shop they were approached by a “homophobic” security guard who asked them to leave as couples are not allowed to shop together due to social distancing rules.
However, Holliday claims he saw at least three other mixed-gender couples who were permitted to shop together, and believes he and his boyfriend were singled purely because of their sexuality.
“We queued up like everybody else with a two-metre gap. As you can see outside there are men and women in together as a couple, so we’ve just walked in as we would as a couple,” Holliday said in a live video uploaded to Facebook.
“I understand some shops are trying to restrict it to no more than two people coming in at a time, [but] there were three or four couples that were coming in – men and women – allowed to go in shopping, but me and Rhys got separated.”
In the footage he explained that they had been escorted to a separate area of the store where they were supervised by four security guards, plus another man with a camera, while they waited to be seen by a manager.
“I’m actually fuming,” he said.
When the manager arrived she immediately asked Holliday to stop recording, but he refused, pointing out that he himself was being filmed.
She told him that one mixed-gender couple had been allowed into the store because the man was epileptic and the woman shopping with him was his carer.
“It’s nothing against your sexuality,” she said.
“Well it certainly feels that way,” Holliday replied, adding that CCTV footage would show numerous male and female couples entering the store together unchallenged.
“If we ask them on the door if they are together and they lie to us, we then stop them while they’re walking around the shop and ask one of them to leave,” the manager said.
According to Holliday, no one had been confronting couples at the door. He again pointed out that the security guard hadn’t approached any heterosexual couples in store either, and accused the man of being “obviously homophobic” towards him and his boyfriend.
In an attempt to resolve the situation the manager said she had “no issue” with the couple continuing to do their shopping, but asked them to do it separately, with one waiting outside until the other had finished.
Jake Holliday (right) and his boyfriend Rhys were told they weren’t allowed to shop together in Sainsbury’s (Facebook/Jake Holliday)
“The way we were treated was so humiliating and embarrassing – the whole store looked at us as if we were criminals,” Holliday told Metro after the incident.
“I understand it’s maybe not the norm to everyone to see two men shopping together, and if I was questioned and my response was accepted it wouldn’t have been an issue.”
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson told the paper that the supermarket is an inclusive retailer and is asking all customers to send one adult per household to the store where possible.
“This is to help us keep everyone safe and serve more households in less time. We are sorry for any confusion this may have caused,” they said.
