read the original letter of intolerance received by Marquette Turner
I cannot thank family, friends, colleagues, clients and the greater community enough for the support that has been shown in response to my “No to Discrimination” article.
People from all over the world have expressed tolerance and respect and our entire company is extremely proud to have taken such a strong stand, regardless of their age, race, colour, sex, or religion or whether you wear a platinum wedding ring, or you don’t wear one at all.
I promised to publish the letter and our response in my original article and I will honour that commitment. The danger of not showing the letter we received is that the true gravity of intolerance cannot be displayed. I am saddened when I hear of hate crimes being committed where gay men or women, people of colour or other minorities are killed or injured by ignorant people.
Most of the offenders are young people who may have behaved differently if we all discussed the issues freely, rather than turning a blind eye or waiting for some other company or person to act first.
Marquette Turner Luxury Homes will never be guilty of chasing money at the expense of doing what is right. All businesses need to make a profit to survive and equally every person in the company has to live in the community – have a right to be safe, have understanding for others and be proud of their decisions.
I ask that you commit to talking to as many people as possible about this issue, including employers so we can do our best to create a country that is tolerant. If we can create an environment where discrimination and bigotry have no place we will help protect each other from hate crimes in the future. I truly believe that by working together and discussing topics openly we can help solve problems like this.
Note: Whilst I urge every person to write to the author of the letter I do not condone any message which is rude or threatening or any act of violence whether implied or actual. Expressing openly the personal effect that such discrimination and bigotry has on you or others may help the author understand the ramifications of his opinions. I will publish our response to the letter on our website shortly.
read the original letter of intolerance received by Marquette Turner
You can also check out the employers – many Australia blue-chip companies – that are also supporting Australian Marriage Equality, including Qantas, Telstra, IBM, Westpac, ANZ and many more, click here
Michael Marquette, Marquette Turner Luxury Homes
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Michael and Simon
Vitriolic hatred. I cannot believe this man, and his wife, have posted this to you. You are right, you do not have to have this man as a client, you both have my full support and respect as business people. Congratulations on your bravery to publish the address with the full letter.
Kindest regards
Greg Saunders
Michael and Simon
Vitriolic hatred. I cannot believe this man, and his wife, have posted this to you. You are right, you do not have to have this man as a client, you both have my full support and respect as business people. Congratulations on your bravery to publish the address with the full letter.
Kindest regards
Greg Saunders
Michael and Simon
Vitriolic hatred. I cannot believe this man, and his wife, have posted this to you. You are right, you do not have to have this man as a client, you both have my full support and respect as business people. Congratulations on your bravery to publish the address with the full letter.
Kindest regards
Greg Saunders
one day I may buy a luxury home. I know where I will go to find it. You are a champion. Keen to see your response
one day I may buy a luxury home. I know where I will go to find it. You are a champion. Keen to see your response
one day I may buy a luxury home. I know where I will go to find it. You are a champion. Keen to see your response
It would be interesting to know of which church he is a member. Church groups across Australia (and the world) are known to actively encourage their members to write to businesses who openly support gay causes, in order to pressure them to stop by threatening loss of business. It’s all very friendly of course….it’s ok to practice bigotry in the name of God. Sadly, in a previous role I worked in, I received many of these letters for the same reason
If it worked the other way and social or ethnic groups advised their members to actively write to businesses and tell them not to support Christians, Muslims or Jews etc., you can bet there would be an outcry.
As an individual, this man is not worthy of a response. In fact I found it amusing that essentially he seems to find his sense of masculinity threatened as he doesn’t want to have to qualify that he is married to female. That is funny.
I am married, I am fortunate to be married, and I feel no need to qualify who I am married to – but I do qualify it all the time, because I AM lucky to be married, even though we had to leave Australian soil to do so. I wear a wedding ring, I never shy (in any situation) from telling people about my husband (even when I have to tell people that ‘her’ name is Jason) and I always tick ‘married’ whenever the question is asked.
I can only do this because I hold dual nationality. It’s about time all Australians can do the same!
Keep up the support guys!
Nick
It would be interesting to know of which church he is a member. Church groups across Australia (and the world) are known to actively encourage their members to write to businesses who openly support gay causes, in order to pressure them to stop by threatening loss of business. It’s all very friendly of course….it’s ok to practice bigotry in the name of God. Sadly, in a previous role I worked in, I received many of these letters for the same reason
If it worked the other way and social or ethnic groups advised their members to actively write to businesses and tell them not to support Christians, Muslims or Jews etc., you can bet there would be an outcry.
As an individual, this man is not worthy of a response. In fact I found it amusing that essentially he seems to find his sense of masculinity threatened as he doesn’t want to have to qualify that he is married to female. That is funny.
I am married, I am fortunate to be married, and I feel no need to qualify who I am married to – but I do qualify it all the time, because I AM lucky to be married, even though we had to leave Australian soil to do so. I wear a wedding ring, I never shy (in any situation) from telling people about my husband (even when I have to tell people that ‘her’ name is Jason) and I always tick ‘married’ whenever the question is asked.
I can only do this because I hold dual nationality. It’s about time all Australians can do the same!
Keep up the support guys!
Nick
It would be interesting to know of which church he is a member. Church groups across Australia (and the world) are known to actively encourage their members to write to businesses who openly support gay causes, in order to pressure them to stop by threatening loss of business. It’s all very friendly of course….it’s ok to practice bigotry in the name of God. Sadly, in a previous role I worked in, I received many of these letters for the same reason
If it worked the other way and social or ethnic groups advised their members to actively write to businesses and tell them not to support Christians, Muslims or Jews etc., you can bet there would be an outcry.
As an individual, this man is not worthy of a response. In fact I found it amusing that essentially he seems to find his sense of masculinity threatened as he doesn’t want to have to qualify that he is married to female. That is funny.
I am married, I am fortunate to be married, and I feel no need to qualify who I am married to – but I do qualify it all the time, because I AM lucky to be married, even though we had to leave Australian soil to do so. I wear a wedding ring, I never shy (in any situation) from telling people about my husband (even when I have to tell people that ‘her’ name is Jason) and I always tick ‘married’ whenever the question is asked.
I can only do this because I hold dual nationality. It’s about time all Australians can do the same!
Keep up the support guys!
Nick
I cannot believe some people and their attitude to this…..seriously…..they are not the type of client you would want at the end of the day!!!!!
Both you and Simon should be very very proud of who you are and what you have achieved!!! Really….some people will have an attack at success….why i don’t know maybe because they couldn’t make it themselves!!!
I cannot believe some people and their attitude to this…..seriously…..they are not the type of client you would want at the end of the day!!!!!
Both you and Simon should be very very proud of who you are and what you have achieved!!! Really….some people will have an attack at success….why i don’t know maybe because they couldn’t make it themselves!!!
I cannot believe some people and their attitude to this…..seriously…..they are not the type of client you would want at the end of the day!!!!!
Both you and Simon should be very very proud of who you are and what you have achieved!!! Really….some people will have an attack at success….why i don’t know maybe because they couldn’t make it themselves!!!
Sir,
I applaud you! I live in the US, where bigotry and hatred are rampant. I believe in equality for all, and have been physically attacked by “religious” people who think I’m wrong.
I’ve lived through “Give us money to fight segregation” and “Give us money to fight interracial marriage” and “Give us money to fight communists.” Now I’m living through “Give us money to fight homosexual marriages.”
The way I see it, (some not all) religious institutions are teaching hatred and discourage their members from reading scripture and using their minds to decide what God really wants.
In the US, I feel (Opinion, not fact) that many of these religious leaders are using sensationalism and fear with the intent of not spreading God’s word, but putting money in their pockets.
Stand up for what you believe in, I’m sure you’ll prosper in your business endeavors but also prosper in showing, through your deeds, what is truly right. I hope there are many young people who consider you as their mentor.
Lawrence Chevalier
U.S.A
Sir,
I applaud you! I live in the US, where bigotry and hatred are rampant. I believe in equality for all, and have been physically attacked by “religious” people who think I’m wrong.
I’ve lived through “Give us money to fight segregation” and “Give us money to fight interracial marriage” and “Give us money to fight communists.” Now I’m living through “Give us money to fight homosexual marriages.”
The way I see it, (some not all) religious institutions are teaching hatred and discourage their members from reading scripture and using their minds to decide what God really wants.
In the US, I feel (Opinion, not fact) that many of these religious leaders are using sensationalism and fear with the intent of not spreading God’s word, but putting money in their pockets.
Stand up for what you believe in, I’m sure you’ll prosper in your business endeavors but also prosper in showing, through your deeds, what is truly right. I hope there are many young people who consider you as their mentor.
Lawrence Chevalier
U.S.A
Sir,
I applaud you! I live in the US, where bigotry and hatred are rampant. I believe in equality for all, and have been physically attacked by “religious” people who think I’m wrong.
I’ve lived through “Give us money to fight segregation” and “Give us money to fight interracial marriage” and “Give us money to fight communists.” Now I’m living through “Give us money to fight homosexual marriages.”
The way I see it, (some not all) religious institutions are teaching hatred and discourage their members from reading scripture and using their minds to decide what God really wants.
In the US, I feel (Opinion, not fact) that many of these religious leaders are using sensationalism and fear with the intent of not spreading God’s word, but putting money in their pockets.
Stand up for what you believe in, I’m sure you’ll prosper in your business endeavors but also prosper in showing, through your deeds, what is truly right. I hope there are many young people who consider you as their mentor.
Lawrence Chevalier
U.S.A