A Parisian employment tribunal has ruled that calling a male hairdresser a “faggot” isn’t homophobic “because hair salons regularly employ gay people.”

The BBC reports on the case of a Paris hairdresser who was fired after calling in sick to work. His boss accidentally sent him a message intended for someone else saying “I am not going to keep [the employee]. I don’t have a good feeling about this guy. He’s a dirty faggot” (the term PD, short for pédé meaning pédérast, informal slang for “faggot” was used).

The employee sought to use the text as grounds for unfair dismissal at an employment tribunal, but was unsuccessful when the tribunal ruled that calling a male hairdresser a “faggot” wasn’t discriminatory.

“In placing it in a context of the hairdressing community, the council considers that the term ‘PD’ employed by the manager cannot be held as homophobic speech because it is recognised that hairdressing salons regularly employ homosexuals, notably in women’s hairdressers, without posing any problems,” read the ruling of the ruling of the tribunal de prud’hommes de Paris.

Though the tribunal acknowledged that the man was unfairly dismissed, it ruled that it was not as a result of homophobic discrimination. Social media users reponded angrily to the verdict.

Journalist Mathieu Brancourt tweeted a copy of the ruling saying: “You are a hairdresser, you get called a faggot, and that’s OK because hairdressers are often gay right. Thanks, tribunal.”

The unnamed victim has refused to comment, but will appeal the decision with the help of rights watchdog Le Défenseur des Droits