When a client of the U.K. bank NatWest saw Pride flags at a local branch, he said the flags caused him emotional distress because of his disabilities and religious beliefs. He asked the bank to remove the decorations, but the bank’s response compelled him to escalate the matter.

The man, identified in the press only as “Mr. J,” complained last year after seeing the rainbow-colored decorations in the bank. The bank told him that the services he needed that day could have been completed online without visiting the branch in person.

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Apparently dissatisfied with this answer, the man complained to the Financial Ombudsman Service, a national group that settles complaints between consumers and financial services businesses, Attitude reported. The man said that the decorations and the bank’s refusal to remove them violated his rights under the Equality Act 2010, a law which forbids discrimination based on personal characteristics.

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The ombudsman decided in favor of the bank.

In her judgement, ombudsman Danielle Padden wrote,“NatWest is a bank that has chosen to display Pride materials along with other paraphernalia at certain times of the year. As a service, we wouldn’t be able to tell them not to do that, as they are entitled to celebrate and raise awareness to the communities they service.”

Padden said that, if the physical branch caused him so much discomfort, that the man could try “alternative methods of banking,” such as online banking, ATMs or the post office, PinkNews reported.

When the man said he needed to visit the bank in-person, Padden said he could legally appoint a third party representative to handle his bank business in a physical branch. If the man wanted to challenge the bank’s right to display Pride decorations, he’d have to file a lawsuit against the bank in court, Padden added.

Last year, the LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall ranked NatWest number 45 among 100 of the U.K.’s most-inclusive employers.

The bank’s website states, “We aim to continue to deliver a better LGBT+ colleague and customer experience through continuously challenging the status quo… We have worked hard to understand the issues our LGBT+ colleagues and customers face and engage with them regularly to demonstrate that NatWest Group is a welcoming place, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

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