Suit: Gay couple gets 'hateful' flyers, not wedding programs

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Alanna Durkin Richer, Associated Press
 Updated 8:53 pm, Wednesday, January 17, 2018

BOSTON (AP) — Stephen Heasley and Andrew Borg were excited to see the wedding programs they ordered for their big day. But when the package arrived, the gay couple was horrified to instead find religious pamphlets with messages about temptation and sin, according to a federal lawsuit against printing company Vistaprint.

The lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in Massachusetts, accuses Vistaprint of attacking the couple because they're gay by replacing their wedding program order with the "hateful, discriminatory" pamphlets.

"Our goal is to hold Vistaprint accountable for the harm they have caused, to give a voice to others who may have been similarly victimized, to help prevent this from happening to someone else and to send a message that there will be consequences for acts of hate perpetrated against others," the couple, who got married in Pennsylvania in September, said in a statement.

Vistaprint's CEO and founder said in a letter to customers on Wednesday that it is "incredibly saddened" by the incident and has launched an investigation to determine how and why the couple received the materials. The Dutch company, which has a regional headquarters in Massachusetts, says it has reached out to the couple, who lives in Australia, and hopes to use the incident as an "opportunity to shine light on important LGBTQ issues."

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Suit-Gay-couple-gets-hateful-flyers-not-12504446.php

[Justice]

1. I find it suspicious that anti gay material was

Accidentally sent to this particular couple. Were the wedding materials sent to a hate group?

[Honeycombe8]

2. No. It seems it was intentional. nt

[Honeycombe8]

3. Whoever did that needs to be fired asap. Horrible.

Can you imagine opening up your wedding programs box only to find hate materials? Horrible. Who would do such a thing?

[iluvtennis]

4. +++agree

[TwistOneUp]

5. Vistaprint is an offshore company

When you get your credit card statement you'll see Vistaprint BV or some such. It's a tax dodge located in one of those "no gays" Carribean islands that has a literal belief in the bible. And the reason God just beat the snot out of their island is *of course* the fault of the gay couple. <groan>

I say get the word out and no more bidniss to those hateful bastids until heads roll for this. Plenty of good printers in every country; no need to go to a tax dodge full of haters. Almost as bad as shopping at Wal-Mart.

[regnaD kciN]

6. The article mentions that the company is DUTCH...

...and upper management appears to be taking the couple's side.

Since the couple is from Australia, I'm wondering if they, or the Vistaprint branch they dealt with, is based in Sydney. The Diocese of Sydney (Anglican), is extremely conservative and fundamentalist, to the extent of sending "missionaries" to other Anglican dioceses in Australia (a serious breach of protocol) and even to here in the U.S.A., attempting to start a "true Church" (i.e. no gays and no women in leadership positions) in those hotbeds of apostate liberal Anglicanism. It would surprise me not a bit for someone of that inclination, working at the local Vistaprint branch, to try to "send a message" to Teh Gayz.

[dhol82]

7. Gee, that sounds like Mel Gibsons church

They be cray-cray.

[whopis01]

11. VistaPrint is Dutch. BV is for Besloten Vennootschap

which is essentially like LLC in the US.

All of their North American orders are printed in Canada. They do have a Caribbean call center.

[left-of-center2012]

13. Where did you get Canada?

"The Dutch company,
which has a regional headquarters in Massachusetts,
says it has reached out to the couple, who lives in Australia"

[whopis01]

16. I was talking about their printing facilities.

Their North American manufacturing facility is located in Windsor, Ontario. That is most likely the location where an order placed from Pennsylvania (where the couple was married) would have been printed.

The Massachusetts location is their North American business headquarters. It is not one of their printing facilities.

They also have business headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Australia - but since the couple filed suit at their North American headquarters, I am assuming that their order was placed for delivery in the US, not Australia.


https://www.vistaprint.com/about/offices.aspx

[TwistOneUp]

15. Thank you for explaining that! n/t

[Sunlei]

8. Vistaprint?Better sort this out immediately or no more banners/posters/tee/cards orders from us

The "customer letter" isn't enough, the order had better be sorted out and those customers compensated with lifetime discount services.

[quakerboy]

9. Vistaprint is a middle man, not a printer

They seem to farm their orders out to smaller print shops. Ive known folks who worked at several print shops in my area who said they do Vista Print work during any downtime between better paying work.

Maybe they have their own facilities as well, but I'd bet they passed this order on to a contractor/sorry excuse for a human who took it on themselves to do this. If so.. I'd expect them to end their contract with that supplier.

Although.. part of me hopes that this means some wacky Fundy cult group got a bunch of gay marriage wedding programs, and was thus unable to hand out the hateful pamphlets at some limited time event. Id still expect a contract to be terminated, but I'd like to see at least that much good come out of this.

[Raven123]

10. They need to shine a bright light on the perpetrators of intolerance and hatred so that they may

experience the consequences of their cowardly actions.

[Demsrule86]

12. Accident? I don't buy it.

[MosheFeingold]

14. It's going to be a subcontractor

Vistaprint takes in orders from around the world, then sends them for fulfillment at some local printer. It's the same model as "FTD Florists" and the like.

This is going to be their near neighbor, not corporate.