'Gay dog' banned from Australian restaurant

An Australian restaurant has been ordered to apologise and pay compensation after they barred a blind man because a waiter thought his guide dog was gay.

Ian Jolly was told he could not take his dog Nudge into Adelaide's Thai Spice after his partner, Chris Lawrence, asked if she could bring a guide dog into the restaurant.

The waiter thought that she was asking if gay dogs were allowed.

Mr Jolly and Ms Lawrence were denied entry to the restaurant - which displayed a 'guide dogs welcome' sign - even after they showed the staff a guide dog information card.

The restaurant were ordered by the Equal Opportunity Tribunal to pay Mr Jolly AU$1,500 (£903) in compensation.

'The staff genuinely believed that Nudge was an ordinary pet dog which had been de-sexed to become a gay dog,' the restaurant owners said, bafflingly.