A couple in New York is calling out a Bronx restaurant after they were harassed with homophobic comments by a member of the staff, according to NBC News.

Nelson Ayala and Jamel Brown Jr. told the news outlet that they were asked to leave La Isla Cuchifrito after they ordered and the woman behind the counter made a series of homophobic comments to them.

Ayala reportedly had video of the woman repeatedly saying “hombre, mujer” before saying, “Everything correct my family: hombre, mujer, nino y nina.”

Ayala told NBC New York that the woman kept saying, “Men and men are not supposed to be together. She was talking about her God, her heritage and her family."

The woman berated them after she saw the married couple holding each other, according to Bronx News 12.

"Now that we have to go somewhere and be kicked out because of our sexual preference is just mind-blowing,” said Brown Jr.

"Who I love shouldn't define where I shop or eat at. I came here to get service, not to get judged,” Ayala added to Bronx News 12.

Bronx Couple Says They Were Kicked Out of Restaurant for Being Gay

A kiss is a kiss but a gay kiss is quite continental and apparently too sophisticated for the likes of the uneducated. https://t.co/no9PWvjxmT
pic.twitter.com/5i17gR2RNE

— Dane B. McFadhen (@DaneMcFadhen) January 19, 2021

NBC News reported that the restaurant fired the employee. Also, the restaurant apologized to the couple and offered them a free meal, Boyd Cole, a relative of the restaurant's owner, told the news outlet.

“In no way do they condone the comments made by their former employee,” Cole said.

Elizabeth Ocasio, manager at La Isla Cuchifrito, later told Bronx News 12 that the restaurant was sorry about the situation.

"We don’t condone what happened in this restaurant, we’ve been here like I said for 15 years, we have never had a problem in this community,” Ocasio said.

"This one employee we didn’t know her behavior, we didn’t know that she'd act this way, as soon as we found out what happened, we terminated her. I apologize to anyone that felt offended, that felt any kind of way…that’s not us, it was only one person, one employee and she’s not here no more,” she added.

Last week, the couple held a rally in front of the restaurant to call them out for what happened, and even though they were offered a free meal, they did not accept it.

“What is a free meal going to do? We are not hungry. We want them to know that they just have to train their employees more. Have them treat people with respect just like they would want to be treated with respect behind the counter,” Brown Jr. told Bronx News 12.

“They apologized, and they offered us a meal, but this is not something that should just go away,” Ayala told NBC News.

Both Ayala and Brown said they plan to file a complaint after speaking with lawyers, who said it is against the law in New York City for members of the LGBTQ+ community to be discriminated against. It was later reported that they did not file a police complaint but did file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

New York law specifically prohibits "sexual orientation discrimination in public accommodations such as restaurants," Richard Saenz, an attorney at the LGBTQ civil rights group Lambda Legal, told the news outlet.

“In NYC, if you experience discrimination, you have a right to file a complaint with the NYC Commission on Human Rights,” Saenz said.

Protests have been held outside of the restaurant since the incident and Ayala said he hoped it would serve as a lesson for any restaurant considering discriminating against people based on sexual orientation.

“We will all come together as one, and will let people hear our voices,” Ayala said.

NBC News noted that New York is one of the few states in the country with protections against discrimination by businesses, highlighting another case recently in North Carolina where a couple had no recourse after a wedding hall refused to host same-sex couple weddings.

La-Isla-Cuchifrito

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