Two gay couples were shocked to learn that they couldn’t buy the house of their dreams in Surrey from a Christian couple because of their sexual orientation.
After trying to book a viewing with Purplebricks online estate agents, the couple was refused. They were then sent incredible references by the couple to Fire and Brimstone passages.
Luke Whitehouse and his ITV producer partner Lachlan Mantell spotted a £650,000, three-bed, semi-detached cottage as they looked to get on the property ladder.
Luke Main (33) and Joanna Brunker (34), the builders, wouldn’t let Luke or his partner view the home, let alone purchase it. This was because they were gay.
The couple cited Bible passages and stated that they couldn’t sell the house to “two men in partnership.”
Luke Whitehouse (pictured) and Lachlan Mantell (pictured), were informed that the property they saw was not available for viewing because it wasn’t being sold to gay couples.
Luke Main (left), 33, a builder and his wife, Cambridge University medical physicist Dr Joanna Brunker (right), 34, told them they were against selling their home to ‘two men in a partnership’
The Christian couple’s property (pictured) was advertised with a guide price of £650,000
Online property firm, The Mains has taken the ad off their site. They told the Mains that Luke’s message was “completely against” the company’s values.
Fuming, a 34-year-old, said to MailOnline, “Initially, for the first ten seconds, I laughed. It was funny to me.
“But then, I became angry and upset. I called my mom and had a good cry. It is still a problem. It was not something I expected. I was completely blindsided.
Luke and Lachlan (37) – who are together for 8 years – had planned on visiting the Surrey home last week.
They asked the Mains for a viewing and they replied by saying, ‘Would it be possible to tell us more about your situation and circumstances?’.
Lachlan replied by telling them about his love for the region. Luke, a 33 year-old education business owner and TV producer, was also happy to reply.
However, the Christian couple was stunned by their response. It said: Dear Lachlan and Luke: Thank you so much for sharing your situations with us.
We’re sorry for being intrusive. However, we are not willing to allow two men to see or to buy our house.
“As it is in contradiction to God’s grace teaching, the Holy Bible. In regards to
Luke (34), and Lachlan (37) – who are together for 8 years – shared their shock that they couldn’t view the property.
Gay couple saw the Rightmove ad for the semi-detached property with three bedrooms.
The Purple Bricks website shows that Luke and Lachlan had attempted to arrange a time and date to see the property.
Lachlan, Luke, and Lachlan were asked to elaborate on their situations by the Christians. However, it soon became apparent that the homeowners had cancelled their booking because they were in a similar-sex relationship.
First Bible verse cited: “Therefore God gave them over, in the sinful desire of their hearts, to sexual impurity and the degrading their bodies with each other.
‘They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
“Because they did this, God made them subject to shameful lusts. They even traded unnatural sexual relations with their wives.
“In the exact same way, men were also unable to have natural relationships with women and inflamed into lust for one other. The men committed ashamed acts of violence against other men and were punished for it.
They did what they should not.
Purple Bricks informed Mr Main’s wife and him of their decision not listing the property.
The second says: “Even Sodom and Gomorrha and all the surrounding cities in similar manner, giving their lives over to fornication and seeking strange flesh are presented for an example and suffering the vengeance and eternal fire.”
Luke reported the matter to Rightmove’s online estate agents, who sold it.
Now they have decided to stop selling the property because of the negative comments made by the owners.
Purplebricks spokeswoman said to them, “Thanks for sharing the message Lachlan. We’re sorry that you had such an unpleasant experience.”
“This is a complete contradiction to our values and views.
We’ll reimburse this seller’s fee because Purplebricks has decided not to sell it.
Luke and Lachlan, originally from Adelaide in Australia, are eager to find their place after they were separated during the pandemic.
He stated that despite being separated by Covid and he having been in America during my visit, we were both forced to separate.
“Buying a home was something we had wanted for many years.
“But, this was the only home we had in mind for viewing.”
«We had been looking forward to attending this weekend.»
He stated, “Since I was out eight years back I have not come across dirimation.
“It is possible that I have been discriminated against. However, I was unaware of this.”
MailOnline was contacted by Mr Main (right), who said that he would need to talk with Ms Brunker about the matter, but that they weren’t ashamed of their position.
Luke vented his frustration on Facebook, stating that it was “shocking” and “disgusting”.
Purple Bricks responded that their stance was “completely against our views”
Luke, from Putney, South West London, stated that they won’t purchase or even see the house, even if the owners apologized and changed their minds.
He stated, “We will search for something else now.”
“We will not let this affect us buying a house.”
Purplebricks claimed it wasn’t aware that the messages were sent by the sellers to Luke and Lachlan, until they reported it to them.
According to the estate agent, it responded as quickly as possible and said that staff believed it was a company that celebrates diversity.
Purplebricks spokesperson stated that: “The sentiments expressed within this message are totally opposed to Purplebricks views and values.
“We reached out to the seller and requested that their fee be refunded.
It recalls the incident from the 2014 gay cake row in Belfast. A bakery refused to provide a cake with the message’support gay marital’.
Ashers Bakers prevailed in their Supreme Court case in 2018, arguing that nobody could force anyone to believe something they disagree with.
Stonewall activists condemned the actions of this couple.
Sasha Misra is the Associate Director of Communications and Campaigns for Stonewall. She said that it was shocking to learn of a couple who were denied the opportunity to buy a property due their sexuality. Gay individuals should be allowed to own or rent any property they wish. However, they should expect no discrimination because they are gay. This is a reminder of the past when lesbian, gay and bisexual people were often treated unfairly. They would refuse to accommodate them or reject their business.
Both Ms Brunker (Mr Main) have previously expressed their opinions on homosexual relationships. In 2019, both of them sent a letter to the House of Lords Committee outlining their thoughts on how schools should handle this topic in relationship education.
Main stated that he was grateful to Mr Main for providing parents with the opportunity to express their opinion on the proposed Statutory Instrument.
This is a similar case to the one of Christian bakers Daniel McArthur, and his wife Amy (pictured), who decided not to bake a cake for an activist supporting gay marriage.
Belfast bakers wouldn’t make a wedding cake that featured the words, “Support Gay Marriage.” (pictured: An identical cake made by another bakery).
2018: The UK Supreme Court decided that Gareth Lee, a Northern Ireland gay rights activist, was not discriminated by Christian bakers’ stance.
‘I am only a 30 year-old man with 13 siblings. It is my concern that others and they are not being taught lessons which can be detrimental to society. We and our descendants will be affected by the secular, liberal outlooks that dominate today’s society. So it is distressing that the State would like to encourage children in relationships not allowed or encouraged. It is almost draconian to say that parents are not allowed to take their children away from these lessons.
I would appreciate your consideration of my proposal. It would involve diligently comparing proposed teaching contents with Holy Bible. Then please think about how it violates parental rights to uphold teaching that is harmful and dangerous to children.
“I pray that you will receive wisdom and help from God in this matter and to bring it up to a point which will please Him: Romans 14.12” Dr Brunker stated: “I’m very worried about the law above.
Particularly, it is extremely unsettling to force children 4-11 years old to discover about other families, relationships, and sexual identities. Parents have the right to raise their children in certain beliefs. Parents should at the minimum have the ability to exempt their children from Relationships Education.
Please vote no to this Statutory instrument to protect our children’s rights and prevent their being taken from us. Diversity of beliefs and opinions is the foundation of a healthy and diverse society. We can’t afford to restrict freedom of thought or belief.
I’d be grateful for your consideration of my concerns.
Main appears as a director for LM Buildscapes Ltd. Although the company was dissolved in 2011, Mr Main’s Transit van is still branded LM Buildscapes.
She was a doctoral student at University College London and appeared as a postdoctoral associate for research at the Department of Physics at Cambridge.
On the Cambridge University Synthetic Biology Interdisciplinary Research Centre website, she is listed as staff.
MailOnline contacted Mr Main and he said that he would need to talk with his wife about the matter, adding: “Not that we are ashamed of anything we have said in any manner.”