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“We saw how exciting that experience was, and I would have wanted to have a similar experience as that.”Įric and Ron eventually sorted things out with the jeweler. “The clerks were going out of their way to be helpful, congratulate him, show him different ring options,” Ron said. A year before, he and Ron had gone into the same store with their friend, a man, who was planning to propose to his girlfriend. Will you help him?'” Ron explained about the situation.Įric was stunned and uncomfortable - but he had already spent so much time looking at rings on the store’s website and in person, and he just wanted to get a ring and get out - so he did, but the experience wasn’t positive.Įric had expected a happier encounter. “She stopped what she was doing, yelled for one of the other clerks to come over, and she said, ‘I’m not helping him anymore - I’m going to go over there and do something else. As they spoke, the basics about the relationship came up - Eric wanted to propose on Christmas Day, they had been together for three and a half years, the lucky person’s name was Ron.Īlmost immediately, the clerk froze up, her attitude entirely changed. The clerk was helpful at first, showing him different rings to try on and look at more closely. For many couples, the trip to the jeweler is the first step in a months-long wedding planning process, dotted with key landmark experiences.īut for Eric Ebling, the experience was one marked by rejection, stained by an uncomfortable encounter with a store clerk who refused to serve him as soon as she learned that he would be proposing to the man he had been in love with for years - and not a woman.Įric went to the Kay Jewelers in Owensboro, Kentucky, right by their home. Shopping for an engagement ring and planning a marriage proposal for the person you love is supposed to be a positive experience - a meditation of sorts on your plans to begin building a life together, an exploration of tradition and symbolism. Kentucky Same-Sex Couple’s Negative Ring-Shopping Experience Underlines Reality of LGBT Discrimination