Man refused to cut LGBT Army vet's hair says it was on religious grounds
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Published December 01, 2016
The exterior glass facade of a ground floor commercial storefront Barber Shop with a traditional barbers pole - Park Slope, Brooklyn, NYC September 25, 2015 (This image is subject to copyright.)
When Kendall Oliver made an online appointment for a haircut, the last thing the Army reservist who served six years in Afghanistan expected to receive was humiliation.
Oliver, who self-identifies more as a man than a woman, was turned away from The Barbershop in Rancho Cucamonga, California.
“She booked the appointment online. When she came in, I told her we don’t cut women’s hair,” Richard Hernandez, the owner of The Barbershop, told Fox News Latino.
Hernandez said that Oliver made the appointment under the name of Brittany. As a member of the Church of God, Hernandez says it is against his religious believes to cut a woman’s hair. “It goes against my conscience,” he said.
Oliver was born a woman but told CBS Los Angeles that she feels more like a man.
Hernandez explained that his beliefs stem from the New Testament passage, Corinthians 11:14. "Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him, but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her for a covering."
Oliver went on Facebook and posted the story. Hernandez says the shop has since gotten so slammed on Yelp, that the company had to add a filter.
“The LBGT movement has branded me a terrorist,” he told FNL.
Hernandez says he refuses to cut the hair of any woman who isn't his wife because it would “jeopardize my standing with God.”
According to CBS Los Angeles, the American Civil Liberties Union says the Barbershop must follow the same rules as a diner or coffee shop, which in California makes it illegal for the shop to discriminate based on gender, gender identity or gender expression.
Fox News Latino asked Hernandez if he would have cut Oliver’s hair had it been clear to him that Oliver mainly identifies as male. He answered, “She doesn’t identify as a man. If I believed someone was a man, and if they wanted a haircut, I’d give it to them.”
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https://www.foxnews.com/world/man-refused-to-cut-lgbt-army-vets-hair-says-it-was-on-religious-grounds