The owner of a well-known Dublin stationery store has been targeted by gay campaigners over his refusal to display pro same-sex marriage materials in his shop.  

A series of comments posted on the website of the online edition of the Gay Community Newsletter (GCN) have accused Paul Barnes, owner of Daintree Paper stationary shop, of being “homophobic” and “hate-filled” because of his stated opposition to same-sex marriage.

GCN published a letter from a businesswoman who said that Mr Barnes had removed a wedding cake-topper of two grooms holding hands, that she had made, from display in his store.

“He had removed the same-sex couple topper from my stand without my permission because it was in conflict with his religious beliefs and although he is happy for people from the LGBT community to shop in his store, he is not comfortable with promoting same-sex marriage on the shelves,” Nicola Hyland said in her letter.

In response to the letter, Mr Barnes said “Daintree does not stock any merchandise that promotes same-sex marriage”.

He said: “Daintree has a subsidiary company called The Jesse Box, which is a program for teachers and parents to pass Christian faith to children through re-enacting bible stories in a diorama. There is an obvious conflict here that prompted the action as outlined in the letter from Nicola Hyland.”

In response, a number of commenters on the GCN website have accused Mr Barnes of being a homophobe and a bigot.

One poster, Helen, said that Mr Barnes was “a homophobe. [H]omophobia is a hate crime. [P]eople who are homophobic lose their rights to be considered human”.  

Another poster, Stash, said that he had been happy enough with the products that Ms Furlong had given him “only realising that his bigotry got in the way later”.  

The Other Fella, asked: “If he had removed an interracial couple would it be newsworthy to you?”

SheraCiara suggested that Mr Barnes was the moral equivalent of a racist: “What if the cake topper was a black couple, and he said I’m sorry I am not comfortable with black people? It’s not hugely different.”