The prank advertisement for a Papakura “Homosexual Fitness Centre” in the Yellow Pages had gym owner Ray Parker fuming, but he now makes clear his centre is “open to everyone” regardless of sexuality. He tells GayNZ.com he has a gay employee and wants his business to be a place “where everyone's allowed in,” but says being a ‘gay and lesbian gym' is “not our sole purpose. “Most of our referrals come from either word of mouth or the Yellow or White Pages. So now if someone's looking for a gym in Papakura, they're going to go ‘well that's just a gay and lesbian gym', and innocently enough, just keep going down until they find another gym. That's no good to me. If we drop around four people a week, it's not very long before you're in trouble.” Parker says he's had a few concerned calls to the gym since the Herald story on Saturday. According to the article, Parker told the Herald the prank ‘gay and lesbian gym' advertisement had ‘sleazy connotations', leading some people to conclude Parker was homophobic. “I think by and large they did a good story, except the caption saying it's ‘sleazy connotations'. That was the thing that concerned us most – that sort of thing we just don't need. That's straight out of the Herald reporter's mouth. “I've spoken myself hoarse trying to explain to people that's not what we mean at all,” he explains. David Eames, who wrote the original aticle for the Herald, admits he was 'paraphrasing' Parker's words, and that he had not directly said the words 'sleazy connotations'. Parker says he's still not sure who placed the advertisement, but he has his suspicions, and has a lawyer working on the case. Ref: GayNZ.com, New Zealand Herald (m)