Natália da Silva Elias and the girlfriend Caroline Rodrigues Carvalho declare that they were victims of discrimination in a Japanese food restaurant in Ribeirão Preto, in the interior of São Paulo. According to them, the waiter did not want to include them in a rotation offered for couples, as the promotion was only valid for heterosexual couples.
In a report to G1, the girlfriends said that the discrimination occurred in an embarrassing way and that the waiter at Shogá Japanese Food, who declared himself to be the manager, even showed bottles of light and normal soy sauce to explain that the promotion was only valid for couples of different sexes.
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During the explanation, he would have asked them to show some document that proved that they were a couple. And she claimed that heterosexual couples would not need the same document, as it is more normal.
After the episode, the couple registered a police report as illegal harassment and reported the case to the Coordination of Policies for Sexual Diversity, of the Secretariat of Justice and the Defense of Citizenship.
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To the restaurant's lawyer, Gustavo Define, there was a misunderstanding about the promotion. The restaurant apologized via Facebook and said it "was wrong to carry out a promotion that gave rise to homophobic and embarrassing interpretations for customers and friends." "He only explained that the concept of a couple was man and woman. At no time was there discrimination, they were not even asked to leave. It was said that they recognized their emotional condition, that they respected this, but that the scope of the promotion did not served people of the same sex", he states.
State law 10.948/01 punishes commercial establishments that discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. If non-compliance with the law is proven, the restaurant may be punished with a warning or a fine of up to 60 thousand.
