Setting aside the sadness of having one's wedding reception catered by an Asian-fusion restaurant, allow us to relay the tale of a gay wedding plan gone bad in New York City after the owner of the restaurant allegedly discriminated against a gay couple and canceled their dinner. A rep for Amber Village restaurant in Manhattan told the couple that "gay partyers" are "bad for feng shui," and therefore they could not host the rehearsal dinner for which they had already taken a deposit. Married couple Barrett Greene and Thomas Eng say they had also contracted with the restaurant to cater their reception, and the restaurant said they could not do that either.
The person they were dealing with, manager Tommy Ho, helped plan the events and took a $750 deposit, but called back a week later saying that the restaurant couldn't accommodate the couple, saying that the owner felt that "it's ‘very bad’ for Amber Village to book ‘gay parties’ and that big groups of ‘gay partyers’ are especially bad for feng shui." According to the NY Daily News, Ho was later fired, and restaurant owner Fong Lin insists that the events were canceled because the restaurant was moving from a location on Sixth Avenue to a sister location on Christopher Street, which ironically was the birthplace of the gay-rights movement.
