A city restaurant owner says a set of unique urinals are here to stay, despite a complaint that they are “degrading to women.”
Neal Seifeddine is co-owner of 02's Taphouse and Grill, which has three locations in the city.
At the pub's west-end location, a formal complaint has been filed by the Public Safety and Compliance Team about the urinals, which are shaped like a pair of red lips.
Seifeddine says the bar initially received a letter from a woman named Lily Le, who then filed the complaint with the city.
In the letter, she suggests the urinals resemble women's lips, which she said she found demeaning.
Lee could not be reached for comment.
But Seifeddine, who came into co-ownership in January, says not only will the urinals stay, but there are plans to install them at the pub's north location as well.
"The comments about them are all positive, this is the only negative response. Ladies are always asking to go in and take pictures," he said, adding that the urinals were meant to spark laughter and not controversy.
"We work very hard here and we never intended to offend anyone. We are out there to make people laugh, and so far it's worked."
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He just can't understand how the complainant came to the conclusion that the lips were female.
"I just didn't think that. I just thought it was a mouth. Some customers thought it was the Rolling Stone lips, others thought it was lips like on the Dairy Queen commercials," he said. "There are other ways you can fight your cause, better ways."
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