This is an example of homophobia interfering with the adoption of a couple of cats. The Daily Mail reports today that a writer and actor, Alex Andreou, who runs the Sturdy Beggars Theatre Company had travelled two hours to Hackney, London to adopt a couple of cats after responding to an advert by a woman on Gumtree.
When he was about 10 minutes away from the woman’s home, where the cats were, she sent him a text message telling him that she had decided to leave the cats with a neighbour instead.
She had previously asked how Alex Andreou had remained single. She had asked “how comes you’re single, are you gay?”
He confirmed that he was and her response was that being religious she strongly disagreed with the lifestyle of gay people. She told him that she was sorry to hurt his feelings but had clearly decided not to let him adopt the cats.
Alex Andreou responded by saying that he had robust feelings but told her that she was the sorry one. In response the woman enquired, “are you not afraid of going to hell when you die?”
Alex was very distraught. He has been through a lot of abuse throughout his life because of his homosexuality.
He said:
“So I’m on the bus and I’m sobbing and people are staring at me because the truth is it hurts as much as when I was eight years old.”
He does not want to name and shame the “hateful old lady” as it would make him like her. He has been met with supportive messages online from well-wishers. His post about his experience went viral. He was born in Greece by the way.
The RSPCA joined in the conversation and invited him to select a cat friend from one of their rescue centres.
There is a nice little twist to the story. A friend contacted the lady to adopt the cats. She agreed to let her adopt them. She will then let Alex take care of them as his own.
There is then a final twist to this saga! The lady, at the end of the day, decided not to let the cats be adopted at all. She decided to keep them. How about that for an ending? I think we have to say that this lady did a terrible job and behaved quite appallingly. She caused much distress unnecessarily.
