Today's Times reported that Sainsbury's has been forced to apologise following an incident in a Brighton store.
According to the paper, Annabelle Paige, a 22-year-old English literature student at Sussex University, was stopped by a female security guard when she was with her girlfriend.
The security guard had been approached by a customer who saw Paige give her girlfriend a "light kiss". The security guard told them to "take it outside". Paige, who had considered speaking to police and is now consulting a lawyer, said she was "really upset".
She told us she was sorry to have said that but a customer had complained saying what we were doing was 'disgusting' and had claimed they were worried for the safety of their child so the security guard felt she had to come and say something to us. That word, disgusting, it really resonated and shook me.I get that if another customer is uncomfortable that's a bad thing ... but the problem is the other customer was in the wrong and essentially being homophobic. The guard didn't seem to understand that, I was absolutely humiliated.
The incident happened on October 11 – National Coming Out Day.
A spokesman for Sainsbury's told the paper: "This should never have happened – it is clear that Miss Paige and her partner were not behaving inappropriately and we are very sorry that they were treated in this way. We have called Miss Paige to apologise and will be making a donation to a charity of her choice."