Metro Weekly

Lions Club’s ”Catfish Derby” catches flack for denying lesbians a ‘couple’s discount’

”I wasn’t making any statement against lesbians, I’ll tell you that right now. I have nothing against them at all. I was just trying to run a catfish derby.”

Mike Raney, an Oregon Lions Club member who refused to grant a ”$1 couples discount” to Tina Corriere-Gooch and her lesbian partner, Angela, at a ”Catfish Derby” in May. He is reacting to a letter of complaint filed by Lambda Legal which alleges that Raney did purposefully discriminate against the female couple, saying that there was a couples discount ”but none of this boy-boy, girl-girl couples crap.” (Bakers City Herald)


”It’s insulting and degrading that the club treated us like strangers, instead of recognizing our committed relationship.”

Tina Corrierre-Gooch as quoted in a statement released by the New York-based Lambda Legal regarding a claim of discrimination against a lesbian couple at a Lions Club’s ”Catfish Derby” in Oregon. (Lambda Legal)

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