Park Slope Brooklyn Maternity Store Owner Harassed And Threatened For Offering Discount Applicable To Lesbian Mothers

On April 21st, Brokelyn.com published an article on Boing Boing, a maternity store in Park Slope which offers a special 10-percent discount for lesbians. Karen Paperno, who sells all styles of nursing and baby gadgetry at her shop, had been offering the deal for about a month, and said she has about one taker a day, but that she also fields occasional complaints. “The lesbians love it and the gay males get upset,” she says. “But their disposable income is so much higher than women’s. Men just make more than women.” Paperno, who opened the store 15 years ago, first offered the deal in the 1990s, and recently decided to bring it back as part of her push to be more personally involved with the store after its customer service was criticized on Yelp. She says the discount is her way of honouring the roots of the neighbourhood, where she first moved in the 1970s, when her father purchased a place in what was then a traditional lesbian district. “My first day here I saw a big pin on the sidewalk for the Lesbian Herstory Archives and I thought, ‘what a cool neighbourhood,' ” she recalls. Paperno, who is married (to a man) doesn’t believe she’s running afoul of any anti-discrimination laws. “People have gotten upset but it’s my store and I have the right to do it,” she says. “I offer hardship discounts of all kinds, all the time. This is just one that I advertise.” In terms of eligibility, she does not require any proof, but says that, straights almost never try to get in on the discount, adding that “This neighbourhood is way too honest.” However, since the story appeared, Paperno says she has been inundated with homophobic hate, telling the Brooklyn Eagle “I’ve gotten angry phone calls; all from men, saying awful things; unprintable things.”