A vegetarian Wall Streeter has a real beef with his macho man ex-boss, who he says tormented him for being a "homo" who wouldn't eat steak with the boys.
Ryan Pacifico is suing Calyon in the Americas, charging that his one-time boss at the French financial firm presided over a testosterone-fueled trading desk, where he was mocked for avoiding meat and wearing snug-fitting shorts during triathlons.
"A trading floor is certainly a manly man's world," Pacifico said. "I just never expected someone to think it's gay to be a vegetarian or to constantly poke fun at me."
The 28-year-old Long Island man worked as a junior foreign-exchange trader in Manhattan for the firm from 2005 until he was fired last March.
Pacifico's discrimination lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, contends the firm cooked up lies about his job performance to fire him - when the real factors were that he was a vegetarian who was perceived to be gay by boss Robert Catalanello.
"They associated being a vegetarian with being gay," said Rick Ostrove, a lawyer for Pacifico. "It's a ridiculous male stereotype that only real men eat meat."
A spokeswoman for Calyon in the Americas did not respond to requests for comment.
Pacifico is married, and served steak at his wedding last year.
Catalanello's alleged abuse is the meat of the nine-page complaint, which accuses the boss of saying, "Who the f--- cares?" when another trader questioned what Pacifico would eat during an outing to a steakhouse.
"It's his fault for being a vegetarian homo," Catalanello is accused of saying.
The suit also charges that the boss crudely poked fun at Pacifico last March during a conversation about steakhouses.
"You don't even eat steak, dude," Catalanello is accused of saying. "At what point in time did you realize you were gay?"
Pacifico, who has been a vegetarian for 15 years, said he never considered eating meat to better fit in with his red-blooded coworkers. "The concept of eating animals just blows my mind," he said.
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/200...r_vegetar.html
So it seems like in addition to starting hurricanes, earthquakes, and other worldly disasters, being a vegetarian makes you gay now as well according to some people.
I wonder if we were back in the 19th century if being 'gay' meant you thought the world was round?
Regards,
Lee
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