Arkansas shop owner orders lesbian couple to stop holding hands
The store owner said it was because he wanted it to be a “family store.”
According to Ashley Looper, she and her fiance Jessica Perkins were browsing in Spa City Treasures in Hot Springs when owner Steve Salyers admonished them for holding hands.
“My reaction was, ‘Excuse me?,’” Looper told Arkansas Matters. “We weren’t doing anything but trying to spend money and time together. We weren’t being derogatory. We weren’t being all handsy. Simply holding hands.”
Owner Salyers saw it differently.
“They were loving on each other a lot and holding hands and they pretty much did it the whole way through the store,” he explained. “I just felt like they were just doing something that was inappropriate to have kids around. That’s all. It would have been the same whether it had been regular people or not. I was as polite as I could and said, ‘Please don’t do it while you’re in the store.’ Didn’t ask them to leave. Didn’t escort them outside.”
According to Salyers, what he saw wasn’t the kind of thing children should see.
“I’m a family person so I want this to be a family store,” Salyers said. “It’s like I wouldn’t want to take my kids to a strip club or something.”
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32 responses to Arkansas shop owner orders lesbian couple to stop holding hands
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Snick1946 August 2nd, 2016 at 19:44
Spa City Treasures in Hot Springs- wait another day or so then look this business up on Yelp and see all the comments left. People who do this stuff are morons- they have no idea what a tiny minority they are in today’s world. Let’s see him make living from just having homophobes and born againers shopping in his store.
whatthe46 August 2nd, 2016 at 21:23
better believe it.
Red Mann August 3rd, 2016 at 03:20
I looked on his Facebook page and he is being raked over the coals by 99% of the commentators.
https://www.facebook.com/spacitytreasures/
whatthe46 August 3rd, 2016 at 03:46
ah to the fk’n ah!!!!!!!!! that was awesome. OMG, they chewed him a new one. that’s good for his stupid ass. i would love to ask him, how does it feel to be talked down to? how does it feel to be made to feel like shit?
burqa August 3rd, 2016 at 20:47
NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!
NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!
1 – 2 – 3- 4, WE DON’T WANT YOUR STINKING WAR!
HEY HEY, HO HO!
LBJ HAS GOT TO GO!
HANDS UP!
DON’T SHOOT!
labman57 August 2nd, 2016 at 19:51
The only thing that would have made this story even more disturbingly absurd would be if it had been a gun shop.
jamesboyle63@gmail.com August 2nd, 2016 at 20:01
“It would have been the same whether it had been regular people or not.” News flash Elmer. They are regular people. This is why Trump could win. These people exist.
whatthe46 August 2nd, 2016 at 21:19
this is why tRump won’t win. all these anti-gay idiots, of course i’m including the repuking politicians, forget that there are millions of LGBT’s and these people have families who love them and will vote against this kind of hate and bigotry to protect their families.
Gary Parillo August 2nd, 2016 at 20:16
He says,”It would have been the same request if they were “regular” people.” So to him they were,Irregular people! He best not ever take his sheltered kids to europe,where even regular people of the same sex hold hands like irregular people.
Budda August 2nd, 2016 at 21:16
Earth to Steve; it’s 2016 !!
whatthe46 August 3rd, 2016 at 01:02
earth to tRump’s supporters, he’s going to lose.
burqa August 2nd, 2016 at 22:18
Hmm.
They say they were doing nothing but holding hands?
I don’t think that would attract this kind of attention. I think there was more to it than they are saying.
And the shop owner didn’t even ask them to leave?
I think we have a pair of publicity hounds trying to dine out on a case of fake victimhood…
Mensa Member August 3rd, 2016 at 00:36
Homophobes get freaked out and even the mildest signs of homosexuality.
burqa August 3rd, 2016 at 17:02
See my reply, above.
Even if we believe their story entirely and refuse to believe a word of the store owner, this is mighty thin gruel to be a national news story.
In the TV report you can see those two can’t keep their hands off each other. At least one of them can’t.
whatthe46 August 3rd, 2016 at 01:03
yeah because you were so there. i would believe them over this pompous ass.
burqa August 3rd, 2016 at 16:36
Neither one of us was there.
Ok, so here’s their story that rates national news coverage:
Two lesbian fiancees walk into a store, just holding hands with no other manifestation of their love for each other. Just innocently holding hands as they shopped.
Then the store owner asked them to stop holding hands.
Their reaction was:
HOMOPHOBE ALERT!
HOMOPHOBE ALERT!
HOMOPHOBE ALERT!
NOTIFY THE NEWS MEDIA!
GET THE TV CAMERA CREW DOWN THERE!
LESBIANS ASKED NOT TO HOLD HANDS IN AN ARKANSAS STORE!
[Insert Fred Sanford heart attack routine]
I watched the TV report. It supported the store owner when you look at how the two “victims” behave around each other. One of them can’t keep her hands off the other one.
When she says “We weren’t being all handsy” she had her right hand in the lap area of the other chick and her left hand around her shoulders while they snuggle and cuddle on a park bench.
Then they demonstrated for the cameras how they just can’t let go of those hands while shopping.
And they spent an hour in that strip mall flea market, “shopping”?
Really, an hour?
No, I think these two publicity hounds were seeking attention so they traipsed around this shop, knowing the owner was some religious guy who would object if they teased him enough.
And now their moment of fame has arrived because in these overly sensitive times when everyone wants to be Rosa Parks, they knew they could count on social media and the Left to respond with knee-jerk reactions.
LET’S HAVE A PROTEST MARCH!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0dZC13PtCg
whatthe46 August 3rd, 2016 at 04:05
if you went to a shop with your girlfriend, boyfriend or wife or husband, and you were a bi-racial couple, and this asshat approached you and made those comments, would that NOT be your clue that he wants you out because he’s prejudice of your relationship? are you just going to oblige and discontinue holding hands as if to suggest, since our love for one another offends him, we’ll do what he wants? and if you don’t oblige, isn’t that suggestive of get the hell out of my shop? they weren’t given much of a choice. either you discontinue looking like a couple or you leave. the publicity hound is this bigoted pos who will undoubtedly show up on “gofundme” for money, ’cause of his “christian” principles he will lose business. no, he will lose business because the majority of the people in this country are not asses like him and will now refuse to support him.
burqa August 3rd, 2016 at 17:00
If I went there with a girlfriend it would not have happened.
I like holding hands, but in a shop like that I’m not going to hang on for dear life, tightly grasping the woman’s hand, the way those two did as they made their way up and down narrow aisles.
We are also not going to be seen cuddling on a bench while I keep pawing at her, one arm around her shoulders, the other in her lap, the way the TV report showed.
Then she realized the camera was on her so she pulled her hand out of the lap of the other woman and touched her shoulder, being “handsy” for everyone to see on TV while denying that’s what she had done in the store.
That’s the way they behaved around each other while trying to deny what the shop owner said.
Their body language says it all.
They want people to see them cuddling and being lovey-dovey, in the store, on the sidewalk bench, on TV and in the rest of the media. That’s what they’re about.
whatthe46 August 3rd, 2016 at 18:42
Who says they were hanging on for dear life?
burqa August 3rd, 2016 at 20:39
Just look at the TV report.
There they were, making their way through narrow aisles in some store – oops! one of them hit her head on some wind chimes – and the one in front is on sherpa duty, hanging on tightly because if they let go the other gal might fall down the side of a mountain or something.
I find the whole thing funny.
I mean, come on.
If I was in a shop holding hands with a girlfriend and the shop owner asked us to stop, I might reply with a bit of smart aleckyness. My reaction would not be:
ALERT THE MEDIA!
CALL THE TV STATION!
I swear, I can’t stop giggling, especially after reading the description, below, about all the people going berserk on FaceBook about it.
Think they’ve talked to lawyers about suing?
They should. Obviously those sidewalk bench cuddle bunnies have been scarred for life.
Has Al Sharpton weighed in on this one?
Well what’s taking him so long?
whatthe46 August 3rd, 2016 at 20:57
if you don’t leave me alone i swear.
burqa August 3rd, 2016 at 21:10
Hopefully they have wised up and next time will go in there, holding hands carrying assault rifles. Just see if the bastard says anything then!
I think you’ll like what I did down toward the bottom, responding to Red Mann.
Whatthe46, y’know what? One of these days you and I should get snot-flying, knee-walking drunk…
whatthe46 August 3rd, 2016 at 21:26
ok, that’s it burqa: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2828a14b70930d9a29f71a05c9fd0969857bf95a45badc908a81171ed3fb9529.gif
burqa August 3rd, 2016 at 21:42
“Partenner, shend anuh-er trinkie-winkie ovair to my cute lil’ frin,,,”
whatthe46 August 3rd, 2016 at 21:47
lol
Mike Caron August 3rd, 2016 at 08:31
Hmmmmm …. according to the store owner ““They were loving on each other a lot and holding hands” but you “think” there was more to it – although it does not say there was more to it – he does not say kissing or touching – he saw that they “loved” but its what you Think – or really you dont actually Think in the way most of us use the word Think – you use it to make stuff up out of your imagination – the way you “Think” we have publicity hounds – well I think you are an idiot who spews crap outta there mouth – and you try to disguise your bigotry as “thinking”
burqa August 3rd, 2016 at 16:47
In my post below I linked to the TV news story. One of them had to struggle to keep her hands off the other one while they cuddled on a sidewalk bench.
By the way, I think you meant “their” instead of “there” – and even then it would be wrong, because “their” is plural and I am one person.
Try editing the word “his” in there.
“Bigotry” – hahahaha – I have been consistently defending gay rights here for 9 years.
I am smart enough to know that gays are not always right and they may occasionally lie or stretch the truth to suit them, just like everyone else.
Only a fool believes every gay speaks the truth 100% of the time so therefore we must always have a knee-jerk reaction and take their side every single time.
That’s what these two cuddle bunnies are counting on.
Rick Nolte August 8th, 2016 at 19:10
Wow!! Could you have done a better job of contradicting yourself from one sentence to the next if you tried.
bpollen August 3rd, 2016 at 03:51
When did bigotry become a family value?
Gina Bousquet August 3rd, 2016 at 17:22
Link doesn’t work… Ok now.
bunya August 3rd, 2016 at 22:41
Truly disgusting that two people would show affection in public. Nobody wants to see that! Now, let’s get back to the good ol’ ‘murikan past time of watching Muslim children being slaughtered in an unnecessary war for profit, or watch the line of flag-draped coffins exiting the plane.
Rick Nolte August 8th, 2016 at 19:09
What a rube!!!