A GAY COUPLE say they were refused a room for rent in London because the landlord said they were not a “regular couple”.
Marketing consultant George Poole and his boyfriend Matthew Greenaway expressed their interest in the house share in Clapham, but were turned away in a text from the landlord.
It read:
Hi guys, sorry but we are looking for a regular couple. Thanks for understanding.
Poole’s friend, Olympic athlete Greg Rutherford, tweeted a screengrab of the text to his 152,000 followers, ensuring the message went viral.
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Poole told the Evening Standard that he was surprised to encounter homophobia while searching for a place to live.
It is weird – it is so backward. We all come into this world as equals so why can we not be treated as equals? Especially somewhere like London – you would not expect that. And Clapham itself is generally considered quite gay friendly.
In the UK, it is illegal to discriminate against a tenant on the grounds of sexual orientation under the 2010 Equality Act. Poole has yet to receive a response from the landlord in question.
There is a happy ending to the story however - he told Buzzfeed that since the screengrab went viral, the couple have received messages from people who say they might have a room for rent.
