The restaurant owner who handed lesbian couple 'homosexuality is a sin' letter . . . as soon as they'd paid

Letter from Ed McGovern asks them to see how their lives 'hurt everyone'

Seafood restaurant owner says his daughter was a lesbian and it 'destroyed' her life



Couple have called for supporters to boycott restaurant



A married lesbian couple have called for diners to stay away from a cafe after the owner handed them a letter saying homosexuality is a sin.



Ariel and Shawnee McPhail said they had lunch in seafood restaurant The Stingray Café, North Carolina, before they were targeted by the restaurant's owner Ed McGovern after they paid.



The women told wcti12.com the letter was offensive and they wanted to stop it happening to other gay people in the area so were calling on customers to stay away.



Angry: Ariel and Shawnee McPhail have been left angry after Ed McGovern of The Stingray Cafe, North Carolina gave them a letter opposing homosexuality. They have urged others to stay away from the restaurant

'If we're experiencing it, then other people are too and that's not fair,' said Ariel McPhail.

'We ask that anyone who agrees not go,' Shawnee McPhail added.



McGovern confirmed to the channel he had sent the letter, adding it was written 'out of love'



Ariel McPhail told the broadcaster: 'When we left he met us outside with this letter and asked us where we went to church and said God told me to give you this.'



The letter says 'please, look at your life. See how it hurt[s] everyone'. It seems to have been inspired by McGovern's own experiences with a footnote adding: 'My daughter also was gay. It destroy[ed] her life and my grandson.'

Argument: Ariel and Shawnee McPhail, pictured left, have called on others to stay away from The Stingray Cafe, North Carolina, pictured right, after owner Ed McGovern gave them a letter saying homosexuality is a sin

McGovern told the channel he decided to give the women the letter because they were kissing outside his restaurant.



The couple denied they were kissing but said it wouldn't matter even if they were.



'First of all, we didn't kiss. We don't kiss in public. We were holding hands," said Shawnee McPhail. 'Secondly, even if I did kiss my wife in public, what married couple would you go to and say, 'how dare you. You cannot hold hands and you cannot kiss in public therefore you deserve my judgement.'