The owner of the Michigan salon advised some LGBTQ customers to “seek services at a local pet groomer”
Marchers walk down 5th Avenue during the 2014 Gay Pride March on June 29, 2014 in New York City © Getty Images / Eric Thayer/Getty Images
Christine Geiger, the owner of Studio 8 Hair Lab in the US state of Michigan, has warned customers who specify their pronouns that they are not welcome in her hair salon.
“If a human identifies as anything other than a man/woman, please seek services at a local pet groomer,” read a since-deleted Facebook post from Geiger. She added that her refusal of service to particular members of the LGBTQ community was simply her exercising her “free speech,” as well as her right as a business owner to refuse service to some customers.
The Facebook post – as well as the account associated with it – has since been deleted. The salon’s Instagram account has also been set to ‘private’, but bears a message saying that the business will refuse to cater for “woke ideologies.”
Geiger’s stance against non-binary individuals comes despite Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, earlier this year signing into law legislation that prohibits discrimination against people based on their sexual or gender identity.
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However, in the now-deleted social media post, Geiger wrote that she was unconcerned by her violation of the newly introduced state law and said she was “not bound by any oaths… regarding discrimination.” She added that she believed she was “taking a stand” and that she had no issue with “LGB” people, but that it was the “TQ+ that I’m not going to support.”
She added that she believes the ‘+’ is a code to represent what she referred to as a “Minor Attracted Person aka: pedophile.”
Geiger’s denial of service comes just days after the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Christian web designer from Colorado, who refused to create a website for a same-sex couple in what was regarded as a blow to LGBTQ rights in the United States.
But while some Facebook users defended Geiger’s right to have an opinion, one said that “you are not allowed to discriminate.” Another added: “Christine, people with your level of hate and ignorance are the reason many people who are struggling take their own lives.”
On Wednesday, hair product manufacturer Jack Winn Pro withdrew its products from Geiger’s salon, writing in a statement that it “reject[s] hate speech in any form” and that Geiger “no longer has authorization to represent our brand or products.”
