A gay couple who are each developmentally disabled went to the public swimming pool at the Pavilion in Hazard, Kentucky - a city government-owned recreation facility.

They were quickly told to leave by an employee who informed them, "We own this place, and we can tell you to leave if we want to."

Shirlyn Perkins of Mending Hearts Inc., said the two men are clients of her organization. Mending Hearts provides support and assistance for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

When the two disabled young men entered the pool, they were at first ridiculed then told to leave by the staff at the Pavilion, a public swimming pool funded by tax dollars.

When pressed for a reason for barring them from using the pool, the two men were told that the Bible justified banning gays from sharing public pools.

"My staff asked the Pavilion staff why the men were being asked to leave, and they were informed that 'gay people' weren't allowed to swim here," Perkins said.

When the pool employee was informed that what he was doing was discrimination and was illegal, he responded that ordering the two men to leave was in the Bible, and so he could do it.

Perkins said that her two mentally disabled clients - who already feel ridiculed and ostracized because of their condition - left the swimming pool crying and embarrassed for trying to participate in 'normal' activities that everyday 'normal' taxpayers fund for everybody’s enjoyment.