The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is the landscaping firm Garden Guy. They get the award for the following.

NEW YORK, Nov 8 (Reuters Life!) - A U.S. landscaping firm has been inundated with hate mail after an e-mail it sent rejecting a client because he was gay was made public.

Houston-based firm Garden Guy sent an e-mail on October 18 turning down a prospective customer by saying: "I need to tell you that we cannot meet with you because we choose not to work for homosexuals."

The recipient, Michael Lord, forwarded the e-mail to dozens of friends and it spread across the Internet.

Garden Guy's web site (www.garden-guy.com) makes no secret of the firm's outlook. "The God-ordained institution of marriage is under attack," it says at the bottom of a page offering patios and organic pest control, and asks browsers to go to www.nogaymarriage.com.

The forum on Garden Guy's Web site has received 26 pages of postings since the e-mail was made public, many of them criticizing the owners' stance and urging a boycott. One accused the company of "hate and discrimination."

Garden Guy co-owner Sabrina Farber said her family had also received verbal attacks and murder threats.

"When we sent (the e-mail) we intended it for the client. We did not intend it to be some sweeping political statement for the world. That's it," she said. "We are humbly sorry for the hurt that it caused. We meant no hate."

Farber said she had not anticipated the impact that the e-mail would have. "We felt that it was our right as an American small business to choose who we do business with," she said in a telephone interview.

"Do I want to say that before you send an e-mail you might think about the fact the whole world can see it? I guess I do," she added.

Note- Before I get started, I want to say I don't condone the threats of violence made against Garden Guy, its owners or any of its employees. There is no excusing that behavior.

Ms. Farber your company can choose to do business with whomever it pleases. However when you put something in writing, you lose all right to confidentiality. Your company was foolish to tell Mr. Lorid in writing why you weren't doing business with them. For that, Garden Guy is today's Knucklehead of the day.

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