A Houston magazine editor had an A+ response to subscribers who didn't like an ad with a biracial family

What’s more surprising: That people who object to inter-racial relationships still exist, or that they apparently read mid-sized city lifestyle magazines?

The editors of the magazine Houstonia discovered both of these are true when they received objections from two readers to a real estate ad in their June issue.

The advertisement featured a white woman, a black man, and three biracial children. Here’s the ad in question:

A doctor from Tomball, Texas, and “Fred” from the Memorial neighborhood of Houston both apparently complained to the Houstonia staff. “Your ad is DISGUSTING!” the doctor wrote.

Editor Scott Vogel’s response was swift and unequivocal in a editor’s note titled “Racist Readers Need Not Apply.”

Houstonia’s championing of diversity does not extend to bigots, and while we are by definition dedicated to discovering the best things about this city, we’ll never ignore the worst. On the contrary, our magazine’s mission is to maintain standards of quality always and everywhere, in burgers, in bike trails and in readers, Dr. Tomball included.

Neither the doctor nor Fred said that they would be canceling their subscriptions, even though they were disappointed in the magazine. Vogel went on to explain that he had proactively done so for them. The doctor, Vogwel wrote, “will have to go get [the magazine] himself, as we will no longer be sending copies to his office.”

In addition to righteous takedowns, Houstonia‘s website seems to have a pretty comprehensive guide to the city’s ice cream parlors. Maybe “Memorial Fred” and “Dr. Tomball” can get some ice for that burn.