Gay couple sues Vistaprint after being sent ‘sin’ leaflets instead of wedding programmes
A gay couple is suing Vistaprint over dozens of religious leaflets about sin delivered instead of their wedding programmes.
The couple, Andrew Borg, 31 and Stephen Heasley, 39, are suing Vistaprint after 80 pamphlets were delivered the night before their wedding.
They were titled: ‘Understanding Temptation: Fight the good fight of the faith.’
According to the couple, the leaflets were delivered in place of their wedding brochures which never arrived.
As well as complaining to Vistaprint, the couple say they were forced to pay extra for new brochures to be printed.
According to the New York Daily News, the lawsuit filed by the couple – who live in Australia but wed in the United States – states that they paid nearly $80 for 100 wedding brochures to be printed.
Their brochures were meant to include customised lyrics from the song ‘Treasure’ by Above and Beyond.
During the ceremony, the song was played.
But the brochures they actually received read: “Satan entices your flesh with evil desires and sin is the result of your failure to resist the temptation. It is an act of rebellion against God’s holiness.”
The lawsuit also states that despite there being no explicit anti-gay message in the brochures, the sentiment was clearly intended to be hateful.
It also says that it compared their “relationship to Satan’s temptation.”
Borg and Heasley’s lawyer, Michael J Willemin, said the case “presents a particularly egregious example of a company refusing to provide equal services to members of the LGBTQ community.”
An investigation has been launched by Vistaprint, the company said in a statement.
“We have just been made aware of this incident in the last few hours,” said a spokesperson.
“We understand how upsetting it would be for anyone to receive materials such as these the night before their wedding.”